When sawmill owner Helen Cole is kidnapped by bandits, it falls on lumberjack Dan Stevens to rescue her, but "Wirenail" Hedges is not willing to give up without a fight. Originally a fifteen-episode serial, all that is known to survive of "Smashing Barriers" today is this single reel abridgment created for the home movie market in 1932.
Lieutenant Commander Colton, U.S.N., is in love with Caroline Austen, daughter of a prominent political power in Washington. Colton has a rival in James Archer, a journalist of prominence, unscrupulous and secretly in league with the Ruanian Ambassador, who is endeavoring to obtain for his country inside information as to the United States naval resources.
Ned Halton and his young bride, Nellie, depart from the east in a prairie schooner to seek a home in the western wilds.
