Tom Marvin befriends Bill, a tramp, and gains his everlasting friendship. Later Tom is refused the hand of Gladys Richmond by the doty old Colonel. The lovers are heartbroken. Richmond sells his timber land and resolves to make a trip to the city by boat, that he may deposit the money. The transaction is witnessed by several tramps who plot to waylay Richmond. Tom, who has overheard the plans, is made a prisoner. Bill, one of the tramps becomes conscience-stricken and liberates the young man. By a strange turn of fate the crooks are temporarily frustrated but follow Richmond and board the vessel. After a hard ride Tom arrives at the landing, only to find that the boat has gone. He rides along the bank until he reaches a long pier where a dredge is working and induces the foreman to assist him in his desperate effort to board the boat. Tom is lifted up on the dredge and as the boat passes downstream he leaps aboard. He bursts into the Colonel’s stateroom in time to foil the crooks aid assist in their capture. Richmond concludes that such a resourceful young man will make a very desirable son-in-law.