The Navajo Kid goes in search of the villains who murdered his foster-father and stole both ring and watch. The trail leads straight to Canyon City, Texas, and smooth cardsharp Honest John Grogan, who is in possession of both the stolen items. But Grogan has an ironclad alibi for the time of the murder, an alibi confirmed by none other than Sheriff Roy Landon.
Peggy Barlou is a young rancher who refuses to sell her spread to greedy stage-line proprietor John Rankin. Tex Haines, meanwhile, is accused of killing Bill Dugan, Rankin's bodyguard, but eludes capture long enough to hook up with Dave Wyatt and Panhandle Perkins, a couple of rangers in disguise.
Set on the Mexican border in 1850, Bad Men of the Border was the first of seven Universal Westerns starring handsome Kirby Grant, a former singer from Montana who had earlier acted under the name Robert Stanton. The series, Universal's last attempt at competing with Republic Pictures' many streamlined B-Westerns, also featured the bucolic Fuzzy Knight as Grant's sidekick. Grant and Knight are undercover U.S. marshals tracking down a gang of counterfeiters. To their surprise, they are soon assisted by a beautiful Mexican dancehall performer, Dolores Mendoza (Armida), who proves to be an undercover agent as well, in her case for the Mexican rurales headed by Captain Garcia (Francis McDonald).
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.