Brandon, a surveyor, dreams of building a railway to the west. He sets off with his son, Davy, to survey a route. They discover a new pass which will shave 200 miles off the expected distance, but they are set upon by a party of Cheyenne. One of them, a white renegade with only two fingers on his right hand, kills Brandon and scalps him. Davy is all alone now.

Salomy Jane, a California mountain girl, is sought after by a number of men in the nearby small town of Redwood City. She is affected when two criminals are pursued by authorities: one for killing a hypocritical mayoral candidate, the other for robbing the stagecoach.

Dan Bowers, embittered and disillusioned by an unhappy marriage, seeks solitude in the Maine woods, with a lame dog as his only companion. One day he meets Violet Manners who, with her invalid mother Marion, is visiting in a nearby village. Marion is haunted by memories of the past, and one day when Violet takes Dan to meet her mother, she discovers that he is the husband who deserted her years ago. The shock causes Marion's death, but before she dies, she justifies her past behavior toward Dan. -From the AFI Catalog of Feature FIlms.

Cole Lawson Jr. goes undercover as a bandit to infiltrate the gang responsible for his father's death.

A boy's father is murdered. As an adult, he tracks down the killers.

Ben Hall offers $1000 for the wild Devil Horse which Jim Wright and Skeeter capture. While Jim is away, Gil Davis kills Skeeter and takes the horse. The Sheriff then arrests Jim for Skeeter's murder. But unknown to them, an outlaw witnessed the killing

The Murdock's bank is in trouble. So they ship money on the train and rob it to get back the money plus the insurance, Bonner and his two pals recover the money only to be thrown in jail.

Hot-blooded gypsy Carmen attempts to seduce Don Jose, a lawman sent to thwart a gang of illegal smugglers in Spain. Carmen's plan backfires when Don Jose's passion for the gypsy girl escalates into a jealous rage as she spurns him for her bullfighter beau, Escamillo, with tragic results.

Graehme, Ned Stewart's father, was accused of adultery and killed being innocent. Ned decided to avenge his father, but got captured and sent to the long journey to death "la longue traverse".

Cattleman Flint cuts off farmer Sims' water supply. When Sims' son Ted goes for water, one of Flint's men kills him. Cheyenne is sent to finish off Sims, but finding the family at the newly dug grave, he changes sides.

An English valet brought to the American west assimilates into the American way of life.

The Desire of the Moth is a 1917 American silent western film directed by Rupert Julian

A young engineer, Tom Morley, is building a railroad through Imperial Valley. Tom's father also wants the job, and tries to persuade his son to give up the work, but Tom refuses. Tom falls for a society girl named Alice Hale, who marries him to bring prestige to her family. Initially, Alice plots against Tom, but Tom wins her over and they work together to defeat those who are plotting to destroy Tom's work.

Blamed for the theft of an orphans fund, Captain James Wynnegate flees to the West where he makes a new life with the Indian woman Nat-U-Rich.

As the Civil War begins Ned Burton leaves his Southern love Agatha Warren and joins the Union army. He is later protected and saved from death by Agatha in spite of her loyalty to the South.

Constance, the beautiful wife of Mark Barr, is in fear of her husband's jealousy. Among the guests at their reception are Myrtle Gale and her fiancé, Billy Craig, to whom Constance was at one time engaged. Mark misinterprets a friendly chat between the two and forbids Billy to visit his house. Myrtle goes to the city, and is to return on an early evening train, on which Constance also expects her husband.

Assuming that he has killed the husband of the woman he also loves, Judson Clark flees through a blizzard to a lonely cabin, where he nearly dies. When he recovers, he has lost his memory and is believed to be dead until an actress recognizes 'the young doctor'.

Cowboy Billy Fortune is in love with Hope Beecher, who prefers Billy's friend Ben Morgan, but resists his advances because of his fondness for drink. Hope's discontent is echoed by the town wives' public outcry against drink. To divert their interest, Billy is nominated to make love to their leader, widow Fay Bittinger, who has already disposed of four husbands....

An orphan boy from the Kentucky hills joins the Union Army and rescues his adopted family from Morgan's raiders. He learns his real identity when he returns after the war.

Ed King travels east to sell Pop Blake's cattle. While there Buck, another of Blake's hands, plans to rob Ed by using a local girl Ming Toy as a decoy. Ming Toy gets the money and returning empty handed, and before the other hands arrive, Ed is surprised to find Ming Toy return with the men.