After proving her courage by serving a summons to a dangerous bootlegger, courthouse clerk Ada Curnutt is sworn in as one of the first female deputy marshals in Oklahoma. When a pair of killers-turned-counterfeiters go on a crime spree, Ada and her partner, Henry Sharp, volunteer to arrest the criminals and bring them in. Since Ada's firmly held principles don't allow her to carry a gun in the line of duty, she concocts a cunning plan and manages to capture the counterfeiters without firing a shot. But on their way to jail, the criminals break free of their restraints, and Ada and Henry must face down the killers once again. Years later, gunfighter-turned-reporter Bat Masterson tracks down Ada's former boss to get the real story of the trailblazing female deputy.

All across California, a bandit is terrorizing stagecoaches, robbing them of their strongboxes and leaving tantalizing poems at the scenes of his crimes. After this poet highwayman, who calls himself Black Bart, eludes authorities for years, Wells Fargo detective James Hume decides to enlist the services of private investigator Harry Morse. Together they follow the scant clues to unmask the bandit's true identity. Years later, gunfighter-turned-newspaperman Bat Masterson tracks down Hume to hear the story of how Black Bart was finally brought to justice.