A lumberjack knocks out a champion boxer in a brawl, gets drawn into the boxing world where he is unknowingly set up for a fixed fight.

Riding toward Santa Fe, Tom Crenshaw shoots a bushwhacker who has killed Dad Bates from ambush. Discovering a money belt on Bates, Tom carries it to town, along with a letter he finds in the pocket of the killer, which offers him the means of identifying either of the dead men. In town, Tom has a run-in with gunman One-Shot Morgan and one of Morgan's henchmen sees Tom with the money belt. Tom poses as the renegade who did the killing and is accepted by Morgan and his gang. Tom's plan is working until one of the gang who knew the killer shows up and denounces him as an impostor.

The narrator's voice tells of John Dough, who wakes up after a late-night party and prepares to go to work. However, a few interruptions, including thinking for a moment that he sees a woman's body in his bed, having his car key not work, and thinking he hears his mother calling, delay his departure from home by almost a minute. When tragedy strikes close by, John revisits the morning's events. A phone call from his brother in Chicago confirms how odd this morning is. Did John experience telepathy or was it all coincidence? If radio waves can carry a communication, why not a mother's love?

Martin Granville Jr., a star track-and-field athlete, has intentions of going to Claxton College, but changes his mind when he meets Pat Meredith, a co-ed at a rival college, changes his mind team and goes to college there, just as his father Martin Granville Sr., an alum of the school, had wished. But his father has ordered him not to play football. "Dad" Granville, has offered a $100,000 endowment to his old school, not knowing his son has joined the football team, but is going to withdraw it if his son plays in the Big Game against Claxton.

Cattlemen's Protective Association agent Tom Wade and his partner Happy are assigned to look into the disappearance of rancher John Carroll, who has been abducted by Carson, who wants to use his out-of-the-way ranch as a base for his smuggling operations. Complications arise as Carrol's daughter, Rita, looking for him, has an unfriendly run-in with Wade, then later is herself kidnapped by Carson.

Shortly after Brand kills Gelbert, Tom Rayburn arrives on the scene and is accused of the murder. Escaping, he goes after Doc Mathews, the man that can prove his innocence. Brand is also after Mathews and intends to keep him from testifying. But Mathews is a ventriloquist and this will lead to Brand's downfall.