During WWII, Nazi spies in the USA try to rob the formula of synthetic oil by holding a scientist's family hostage to force him to give up the information and ship it to Germany by means of a night plane called the Dawn Express
The frontiersman (Bruce Bennett) leads settlers to Kentucky, where he makes peace with a Shawnee chief (Lon Chaney)
The boss of a railroad yard and a railroad engineer compete for a woman's affections, and jealousy grows between the two men. This eventually leads to violence, with a fight in the railroad yard leading to one of the men being seriously injured.
British pirate William Kidd (Charles Laughton) captures Adm. Blayne's (Randolph Scott) treasure ship and hides the bounty in a cave. Three years later, Kidd, posing as a sea captain, offers his services to the king as an escort ship. Seeking a social position, Kidd also negotiates for Blayne's ti...