A butterfly collector unwittingly wanders into an Indian encampment while chasing a butterfly, but the tribe has resolved to kill the first white man who enters their encampment because white oil tycoons are trying to force them from their land.
This satirical parody of William S. Hart's melodramatic films finds Buster in the frozen north, "last stop on the subway." He uses a wanted poster as his partner in robbing a gambling house. When he thinks he spies his wife making love to another man he shoots them both only to learn it isn't his cabin after all.
With little luck at keeping a job in the city a New Yorker tries work in the country and eventually finds his way leading a herd of cattle to the West Coast.
A rich Easterner who has always wanted to live in "the Wild West" plans to move to a Western town. Unknown to him, the town's "wild" days are long gone and it is an orderly and civilized place now. The townsmen, not wanting to lose a rich potential resident, contrive to make over the town to suit the young man's fantasy.