On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their presence there dates back a thousand years or more to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. From then on, Whangara chiefs, always the first-born, always male, have been considered Paikea's direct descendants. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand tribe, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by tradition to pick a male leader. Pai loves Koro more than anyone in the world, but she must fight him and a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny.
Despite trying to keep his swashbuckling to a minimum, a threat to California's pending statehood causes the adventure-loving Don Alejandro de la Vega and his wife, Elena, to take action.
The dreaded Doc Snyder returns home after 30 years. After his long ride through the prairies of the wild west, his laundry is extremely dirty, and who could wash it better than his unshaven mommy? But first she sends him to the prison, from which he is to free his brother Hank, because otherwise he will be hanged. When that's done, they both spontaneously decide to rob a bank, which goes completely wrong. Before Doc Snyder's eyes, his beloved brother is shot by his intimate enemy, the Nose Man. Snyder initially manages to escape, but the Nose Man takes up the pursuit, and from then on many innocent people have to die - including Snyder's mother...
A white man trades with the Comanche for the release of a female stranger and the pair cross paths with three outlaws who have their eyes on the handsome reward for bringing her home and Comanche on the warpath.
Will Penny, an aging cowpoke, takes a job on a ranch which requires him to ride the line of the property looking for trespassers or, worse, squatters. He finds that his cabin in the high mountains has been appropriated by a woman whose guide to Oregon has deserted her and her son. Too ashamed to kick mother and child out just as the bitter winter of the mountains sets in, he agrees to share the cabin until the spring thaw. But it isn't just the snow that slowly thaws; the lonely man and woman soon forget their mutual hostility and start developing a deep love for one another.
Being in ill health, Fred Church goes west. Arriving there, he goes into partnership with Carl Stockdale. A few days after they strike pay dirt, Fred is taken with a paroxysm of coughing and Stockdale sends him back to the cabin to rest up. Realizing that the end is near, he writes a letter to his mother and sister, telling them he is going into the valley and not to worry if they do not hear from him, that his partner will send them his share every week.
Raymond Beahan, a young chap from the city, pays a visit to his uncle, John Purcell, the sheriff. The day after he arrives, he dresses up in his uncle's hat, cartridge belt, chaps, etc., and is about to take an old gun from the wall to put in his belt when his uncle asks him not to take the gun, as he prizes it very highly. He then tells the boy the story of how the gun came into his possession. The story is so vivid to the boy, that when his uncle leaves him to round up some bandits, and he is left alone in the cabin, he falls asleep and dreams the same story his uncle has just related to him, only HE is the hero.
A knight of the grip has many inconveniences to contend with, and not only that, but often his very life is in danger. Such is the case with John Duncan, a traveling man, who was obliged to remain overnight at a small inn located in the far west. The hotel-keeper, an unscrupulous Italian, with the help of two ruffians, schemes to steal Duncan's money and do away with him.
A tough preacher comes to the rip-roaring gold town of Panamint in hopes of reforming it. But disaster awaits.
After some typical Western hero actions, a theatrical gunfighter interacts with his fans.
Billy rescues a child and returns her to her mother. When the husband returns and discovers that the savior of his child is a wanted outlaw, he's faced with a moral crisis.