Doctor Lee Caldwell moves to the small town of Big Bend after the death of his fiancée. He is not quickly accepted by the community, which nicknames him Dr. Socrates because of his love of books. His few patients cannot afford to pay him, and his debts mount until his housekeeper, Ma Ganson, runs out of money. Late one night Lee answers a knock on the door. Red Bastion, a local gangster, demands that Lee treat the gunshot wound he received in his latest bank robbery. Lee dresses the wound and agrees not to report it to the police as required, but he refuses payment. Bastion leaves him one hundred dollars anyway, and Ma Ganson uses it to pay their bills. Things start to look up when Ben Suggs, the banker, invites Lee to examine his daughter, whose nervous condition keeps her bedridden. Lee is able to help her simply by talking to her. Slowly he acquires some paying patients. Meanwhile, Bastion picks up hitchhiker Josephine Gray on his way to another bank robbery. Jo escapes from the car when they open fire on the bank and is slightly wounded in the crossfire. Everyone assumes she was one of the gang, but Lee prevents them from taking her to jail. To save her from the crowd, and because he has fallen in love with her, Lee invites her to stay with him until she is fully recovered. When Bastion's wound becomes infected, his men bring Lee to their hideout to treat it. By accident, Lee learns the location of the hideout and hurries to tell the police. Before they attack, Lee begs for time to rescue Jo, who has been kidnapped by Bastion. By pretending to believe that the gangsters have been exposed to typhoid, Lee is able to inject them all with a knockout drug. The gang is captured and Lee is a hero. He now plans to settle in Big Bend with Jo.