TRAILS SOUTHWEST Tom Lacey was a young man who lost his family during a raid by rustlers in the 1870's. Left alone to fend for himself, he sells his father's farm and becomes a drifter and so called saddle tramp. In his desperate pursuit for survival he becomes involved with a band of desperados, learns a fast draw, gains a reputation and flees with Smokey, a cowboy and drifter he befriends. Seeking refuge at a cattle ranch, jobs are offered to them by the prominent rancher. Later he finds himself falling in love with a female who carried enough evidence against him to get him hanged. Buck was John O'Connor's ranch foreman. A tough disciplinarian who made the ranch hands tow the line. He took a dislike to the young new hire he thought was a no count farm boy. It was his job to straighten out the trouble maker and turn him into a worthy ranch hand.