Private detective James Barlow (Randolph Scott) is sent to Indiana to infiltrate the ranks of the four Reno Brothers (Denver Pyle, Forrest Tucker, J. Carrol Naish, Myron Healy), a gang running roughshod over luckless locals. After attracting the Renos' attention with a staged train robbery, Barlow gets in deeper when he strikes up a romance with their sister, Laura (Mala Powers). Gradually, Barlow devises a strategy to set the brothers up for ambush in another train robbery.
Colonel Harvey, a traveling salesman, arrives at Mayberry and captivates Aunt Bee, who buys Harvey's dubious elixir and invites him for dinner. When Andy and Barney find Aunt Bee clearly drunk, they analyze Harvey's elixir.
The Civil War is over, and the South has fallen, but Col. Jonas (Joseph Cotten) has a plan to revive the Confederacy. He raids a Union Army detail and walks away with valuable treasure that he intends to put to use raising another rebel army. Jonas needs to keep the treasure safe during shipment, so he places it in a coffin and forces saloon girl Claire (Norma Bengell) to play widow. Claire is unwilling to do her part, however, and puts herself in danger by opposing the dangerous Jonas.
The group of artists perform for Jelly Roll's official induction as the 77th active member of the Opry family; featuring a ceremony led by Lainey Wilson, along with performances by ERNEST and his mentor, Craig Morgan.
The Rev. Shay moves out West to set up his new home in Montana so that he can spread God's word. But when his wife, Raysha, leaves him for another man -- in part because she wants to return to Philadelphia -- the reverend decides to replace his spiritual ways with a gun. After shooting down his wife and her lover, he battles a landowner intent on keeping all the town's water for himself. But his deadly ways make him yearn for a belief in God again.
Bad guy Butch Cavendish (Christopher Lloyd) leads an ambush on the Texas Rangers, gunning down all but the young John Reid (Klinton Spilsbury), a lawyer who had joined his Ranger brother, Dan (John Bennett Perry), in the pursuit of Cavendish. Reid, who was injured in the attack, slowly recovers with the help of his childhood friend, the Native American Tonto (Michael Horse). Afterward, Reid dons a mask, calls himself the Lone Ranger and begins fighting evil with Tonto.