Belle, the schoolmarm, is losing her home.  Our hero, Tom Good, plans to win the rock-drilling contest and rescue Belle. Alas, Belle avoids marriage because she harbors a dark secret.  Several people plan to bid on the property:  Anastasia, richest woman in Bisbee, Amelia, the acrobat, and that depraved human skunk, Pinkham Mudstone III.  Things have been going badly with the villain of late.  He has no socks and he's painting his ankles black.  Mudstone knows that under the topsoil there's a rich deposit of copper carbonate and sets out to acquire Belle's homestead.  It's up to Tom to save Bisbee and win the schoolmarm.