Plot

Jimmie, a small-town boy, visits a traveling circus passing through town. he falls in love with Pansy, the daughter of the circus' tightrope walker, after he saves her from a gang of thugs. The circus leaves town, though, and Jimmie, determined to become a tightrope walker also, sets up a wire in his backyard and practices. When the circus returns to town Jimmie goes to visit them again, but he soon becomes involved in a tragedy involving Pansy's father and a plot to take over the circus by a former employee.—frankfob2@yahoo.com

Jimmie Jones visits the circus when it comes to his town, and he becomes a fan of Terry O'Neil, who is an acrobat and owner of the circus. Jimmie also falls for O'Neill's daughter, Pansy, and is dejected when the circus leaves town. Years later, the circus again comes to town, and by this time, Jimmie has made a living as a house painter.

Pansy, by virtue of her father's death, now owns the circus, and has two guardians: Jay Trimmer and Otto Shott. Both men are plotting to get her inheritance. They rob her and leave her with Lotta Crust, a retired circus performer. Lotta's son, Foxy Stillmore, is a shady character, and Lotta wants to marry him off to Pansy. Although Jimmie visits Pansy frequently, Lotta throws him out of the house. When Foxy arrives and asks Pansy to marry him, the girl says yes. She tells Jimmie, who agrees to help her elope, despite his love for her. Foxy and Pansy elope, but then Jimmie learns that Foxy is a crook and rescues Pansy just as she is about to board a train with Foxy.

Trimmer and Shott hear of Lotta's plot and decide to take Pansy back to the circus. Once there, they plan to have her hypnotized by Professor de Como and married off to Trimmer. Trimmer and Shott meet Jimmie and Pansy returning from the train, and knock down Jimmie. Pansy is hypnotized, and a drunken Justice of the Peace is called in to perform the wedding ceremony. Jimmie, who has followed the culprits, grabs the wedding license and runs away.

Trimmer yells "Hey, Rube," and all the circus performers come running to assist Trimmer. One performer leads seven horses across Jimmie's path, but the youth vaults over them. Jimmie then climbs a tightrope, and the audience believes he is one of the performers. He jumps over more horses, using a springboard. He leaps from a horizontal bar onto a horse's back, then performs a somersault from the horse's back as his pursuers close in. Landing on slack wire, he gets on the flying trapeze and lands in a net. By this time, Pansy has awakened from her trance, and runs to Jimmie. When Trimmer's associates pursue, she yells "Hey, Rube, who stands by Terry O'Neill's girl," which causes the performers to rush to her aid and drive out Trimmer and Shott. Jimmie and Pansy embrace as a circus clown drops a large tissue paper ring over their heads.