Young David Morton, heir to millions, has been over-zealously restrained from normal youthful activities by his two old-maid Aunts, Harriet and Agatha. In an outburst from his confinement, he meets lovely Gertrude, and promises to race her injured-brothers car in the Big Race. Between the gangsters trying to win the race by disabling him, and his bungling bodyguards trying to bring him home safely, David has a battle to win the race and Gertrude's heart.

Just before the Civil War (but after the South has seceded), Southern saboteurs try to prevent railroad construction from crossing Kansas to the frontier; army captain Nelson is sent out to oppose them. As the tracks push westward, Nelson must contend with increasingly violent sabotage, while trying to romance the foreman's pretty daughter Barbara.