Ruby Blackwell, typical young girl of Arizona, lives with her brother Tom, and their widowed mother in a cabin in the mountains. One day Tom takes Ruby on a lion hunt. They track a puma, or mountain lion. Tom shoots the beast, which, wounded, bounds into the canyon. Tom instructs Ruby to proceed to the ridge and await him there, while he follows the puma up the mountainside. Ruby discovers the cubs belonging to the puma which Tom has shot, and she immediately becomes so engrossed in playing with the huge kittens that she forgets the rendezvous her brother had appointed. Tom finally locates her. The cubs are taken home. They grow up around Ruby like friendly dogs. Pete Lopez, a bad Mexican, who admires Ruby very much, tries to steal one of them at night, after Ruby has refused to sell the animal to him, and the baby puma defends itself vigorously until Tom and Ruby rush to its rescue...
Jane Croft is the subject of cruel gossip in Silver Creek, Arizona, in 1880, and is nicknamed "The Sage Hen." The Home Purity League drives her out of town with her son, John. She sends him back to town on a horse when they are attacked by Indians. There he is adopted by the Rudds; and when they move away, Jane loses contact with her son for 20 years. In the meantime, she becomes housekeeper to George Sanson and a "mother" to his daughter, Stella. A gold rush brings John back as a lieutenant of cavalry. He falls in love with Stella, but Craney, a gambler, threatens to expose Jane's past unless she gives Stella to him. The father is killed, but John saves his mother and Stella from further jeopardy. Jane confesses her past to her son and is able to find happiness after years of sorrow.
War hero Captain November Jones tries to sneak into his hometown of Gold City, Nevada undetected but when he rescues a child from being run over by a train he’s recognized and obliged to receive the town's congratulations. Meanwhile, unscrupulous stockbroker Samuel Barnes and adventuress Teddy Craig are trying to get control of the Bluebird Lode from New Yorker Jackson J. Joseph, who is coming West to meet his daughter Nedra. Teddy tries to ensnare November to help fight Joseph, claiming he's trying to take her mine, but he refuses. Teddy's accusation of Jones's cowardice does not bother him until he falls in love with Nedra, who shuns him, believing Teddy's rumor. When Mr. Joseph is kidnapped and Jones saves him Nedra learns the truth and agrees to marry him.
Three Outlaws came across a stranded baby and must decide to save the child or escape from the law.
The life of Sam Houston, soldier, statesman, patriot and one of the founders of the Republic of Texas, is depicted.
A story of greed and lust driven by gold fever. Rapacious Kate Kent abandons her daughter Betty to run off with Tom Romaine, her husband’s killer during the Gold Rush. A quindecinnial later Betty heads to California and partners with Tennessee, a freind of her father’s, in the Golden Princess Mine. Kate and Romaine try and dupe Betty into believing he is Betty’s father to get control of her portion, but Tennessee reveals the truth and after an attempt on their lives all works out as it should.
Penny arrives in the West by aeroplane. She is considered a suspicious character and thrown into jail. Kurt Walters, a ranch foreman and deputy sheriff, discovers that she is the same girl that his friend, Jo Gary, met in Chicago. Gary fell in love with her, but she confessed she was a thief. Since Penny claims she wants to reform, Walters releases her and sends her to live with Mrs. Kingdon. In spite of her teasing and taunts (or perhaps because of them), Walters finds himself falling in love with Penny.
Following his mother's death, John Gregory becomes the "Eagle," a thief determined to get even with the mining company that stole his family's fortune. Breaking into the company’s head office he discovers that another robber has preceded him and killed the night guard. When he is falsely accused, Lucy the girl he loves, discovers a written confession from the real killer just before John is to be hanged and rides wildly to the jail to save his life.
A Playboy inherits a Western ranch on the condition that he shall run it properly for 6 months. A villain makes an attempt to distract him from reaching the goal, but he, no longer the wastrel of yore, persists and becomes full owner of the property.
The Desire of the Moth is a 1917 American silent western film directed by Rupert Julian
When the Great Chief's body is placed before the funeral pile by his mourning braves, his sacred blanket is covered over it and a sentinel left to watch that this, his last resting place, is not desecrated. The tribe has just departed for their village when a mountain outlaw appears and succeeds in stealing the blanket, having given the sentinel doctored whiskey. When the Indians discover this they exile the unfaithful sentinel until he can recover the blanket.
Professor Duane, an ethnologist, and his assistant, Roscoe Harding, plan a journey into the wilds of Hindustan. Harding is in love with Lydia, the daughter of Professor Duane, and they are engaged to be married. Lieutenant Tavish, a British army officer, is attracted to Lydia and plans to take her away from Harding by fair means or foul.
A ranch foreman wins a series of events at a frontier day rodeo.
In Hell's Valley, Texas Ranger Captain Wally kills Jose Valdez, leading Jose's brothers, Carlos and Manuel, to seek revenge at the Flores ranch. Wally is wounded pursuing them but is saved by Rosita Flores, his original sweetheart's daughter, who nurses him but secretly seeks his torture for her father, and also for herself. Carlos and Manuel fall for Rosita, but she, in turn, falls for Wally, leading to Carlos accidentally killing Manuel and Don Flores killing Carlos, with Wally and Rosita's relationship solidified.
A native Californian guide is discharged by the leader of a wagon train because he dares to make love to the latter's daughter. Sometime later he comes upon them again and is in time to save the girl he loves from an attack by the Indians.
Claim jumper Dave Marco and his boss Earl Foster, a crooked investment broker, hire chemist Ralph Brandon to falsify papers that a certain worthless mine is valuable then convince Ralph's mother to invest all her money in the mine. Ralph’s sister Holly meets Jack Mason, whose mine is actually valuable though not yet profitable, and they fall for each other. Once Mrs. Brandon finds out she has been duped, though forced into silence by the threat of having Ralph’s malfeasance exposed, and Marco attempts to jump Jack’s claim events come to a head until the happy conclusion.
Ranchmen try to play a joke on one of their associates by signing his name to a letter addressed to Sarah Smith, who has advertised in a matrimonial journal. A mix-up occurs on the day of the arrival of the lady when a younger woman, sent to buy stock, also appears on the scene and is mistaken for the prospective bride.
Most of the scenes are laid in a parrot-and-monkey country in South America, a land where "it is always after dinner." The Llano Kid, a Texas bad man, flees there from justice. The consul persuades him to play the long-lost son of a Castilian family, and tattoos a coat of arms on the back of the Kid's hand to make the deception complete. The Kid is taken into the household, trusted and loved by the gladdened mother. For the first time he has a home. The romance develops. And when the time comes to rob and flee he has too much manhood to break the loving mother's heart. The surprise comes when it is revealed that the man the Kid killed in Texas was the real son.
Bart Carson is in love with Lou and even goes to jail to save Walter A. Walker, a man she says is her brother but who is really a husband who has deserted his wife and two children.
After inheriting his uncle's ranch, a cowpoke manages to capture a ghost of the range, break up some cattle rustlers, and win the girl.