Summary
Jack is a man defined by what he has left behind: the claustrophobic 'walled cities' of the early 20th century and the grasping reach of his own kin. Having inherited a sprawling ranch, he seeks the sanctity of the open range, only to find his peace shattered by the arrival of an overbearing aunt, her dim-witted son Cyril, and a young woman caught in their orbit. In a desperate, albeit poorly conceived, attempt to reclaim his solitude, Jack enlists his cook to announce his sudden demise. The plan backfires spectacularly. Instead of mourning, the relatives immediately set about claiming the property as their rightful inheritance. Jack, now a ghost in his own home, adopts the persona of a notorious local outlaw to scare the interlopers and impress the heroine. The charade collapses when real criminals arrive, forcing Jack to trade his theatrical villainy for actual heroism to save the very people he tried to exile.
Synopsis
A ranch owner who has inherited his property and consequently fled the walled cities and his relatives has his seclusion invaded by an aunt, her son and the supposed fiancée of the latter, a charming girl. To get rid of them Jack gets his side partner, the cook of the ranch, to tell them he is dead. That doesn't accomplish anything, for they proceed to take possession on the score that they are the next of kin and consequently the rightful heirs. The heroine, fleeing the importunities of the aunt to marry Cyril, is rescued from a buckboard runaway by the hero, who tells her for some unexplained reason that he is the notorious bad man of the district. Ultimately the city trio escape in their auto from the menial tasks they have been performing around the ranch, but in so doing fall into the hands of the real bad man and his associates in crime. They are rescued by the hero and "all's well with the world."
