Jean Arthur stars as Miss Euphemia Prescott the new schoolmistress in the little western town. She is surprised by the way things work in the country and when she sees a man who has been hanged in a tree for stealing a horse and learns that the murderers cannot be brought to trial her first decision is that she is not staying. However, after talking with Mrs Higgins and learning that the the problem was too much for all the men put together she changes her mind and stays and helps to bring law and order to the town.