An elderly woman turns sheriff to clear her granddaughter of murder charges.

When Julie Westcott's abusive ex-husband Phil threatens to expose Julie's gambling addiction and sue her for custody of their daughter, Minerva Hatton, Julie's mother, helps out by calling her old friend, attorney Nate Paulson. Minerva, a sharpshooter who paid Phil $10,000 to divorce Julie, asks Nate to investigate gambling house owner Riff Daggett and find out who hooked Julie on gambling. After discovering that Julie wrote two rubber checks to Riff to cover her $8,000 gambling debt, and that Phil can file felony charges against her, Minerva sets out to strike a deal with Phil. At Phil's house, Minerva finds his recently murdered body with Julie's handkerchief lying beside him. Minerva tries to shield her daughter from murder charges and shoulders the guilt herself, but an inconsistency in her story on the witness stand leads to Julie's arrest. Determined to clear her daughter's name, Minerva begins an investigation of her own and discovers that Daggett is the owner of the small dog that came running out of Phil's house when she discovered his body. With this information, Minerva goes to Nate's, where Smokey, Nate's assistant, finds Daggett's picture in an old detective story magazine in the "Wanted" section of true crimes. After Minerva and Nate are sworn in as sheriffs pro tem , because the actual sheriff's department is away at a rodeo, the two go after Daggett. They soon locate Daggett, and when he reaches for his gun, Minerva beats him to the draw and shoots him. When the injured Daggett admits to killing Phil, the mystery is solved and Julie is set free.