Having helped his father escape the law, Jim Curtis heads north with the Marshal chasing him. He and his pal Snicker elude the Marshall by changing clothes with two actors. Now forced to do vaudeville skits, Jim finds the man responsible for his and his father's problem working in the same saloon.
Ageing, wealthy, rancher and self-made man, George Washington McLintock is forced to deal with numerous personal and professional problems. Seemingly everyone wants a piece of his enormous farmstead, including high-ranking government men and nearby Native Americans. As McLintock tries to juggle his various adversaries, his wife—who left him two years previously—suddenly returns. But she isn't interested in George; she wants custody of their daughter.