The Smoky River Dude Ranch is owned by Mrs. Forbes (Sarah Padden), who formerly was a tugboat skipper. She replaced surly foreman Hap Callahan (William Haade), now a disgruntled ranch hand, with genial Gene Autry, and converted a working ranch into a dude ranch because the times are not good. Gene’s partner Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) also signs on as a ranch hand, and his lookalike little brother Tadpole (Joe Strauch Jr.) adds to the comic relief by doing some anti-social pranks. Gene’s other problem is the spoiled teenage daughter of a tycoon, Connie Lane (Edith Fellows). She arrives out West from NYC chaperoned by her private school teacher Alice Bennett (Fay McKenzie) and her girls’ school class. Connie tries to run away and makes all her classmates uncomfortable with her tantrums, and almost kills herself when she takes the ranch’s brakeless van on a joyride. But Gene, on his horse Champion, rescues her before it crashes. He also doesn’t rat her out, which gains her confidence and the two bond as Gene teaches her how to behave like a respectable young lady and gives her the attention she was lacking. Before she trusted Gene, she sent a letter to dad (Pierre Watkin) saying how she’s being whipped at the ranch. This brings the tycoon in his private plane to the ranch pronto, as he leaves in the middle of a business meeting. He’s so angry that he aims to remove her from the dude ranch and place her in a resort nearer home. When he arrives, he finds out that the letter was a mistake and that Gene has straightened his daughter out with TLC. He also receives a stern lecture from Gene about not putting business ahead of family. Gene in the meantime is busy courting the schoolmarm in a bland romance, where he serenades her with songs and strums on his guitar. When Frog tries to cut in, Gene resorts to trickery to cool down his rival.