In the arid West, Louise MacLeod works as a secretary for Robert Powell, a lawyer defending businessman John Phelan, whom ranchers accuse of monopolizing water rights. Gordon, Louise's father, is one of the ranchers, and so Louise keeps him informed of Robert's strategy, with the result that the ranchers win their case. John, however, remains determined to control the area's water, and so he hires an engineer to dynamite a river in order to divert it from the ranchers and onto his own land. Robert then realizes the unscrupulousness of his former client, and defuses the engineer's bomb. Afterward, with the ranchers victorious, Robert concentrates less on water rights and more on Louise, with whom he soon begins a romance. -AFI