In Old California When the Gringos Came is a 1911 silent film
Mildred is traveling West in search of her long-lost father when she catches the roving eye of wicked dance-hall proprietor "Hawk" Kent. She turns him down flat and Kent has his henchman Blaze frame her in a crime. To keep herself out of jail, Mildred is compelled to work in Kent's dive, until the gallant Jack comes to her rescue.
A cowboy is falsely accused of killing the local sheriff. Fleeing the law, Wilson obtains a job on a ranch.
Helen, wrongly suspected of murder, escapes to the refuge of Jim's Ranch, where love soon blooms.
Vaudeville artist LaBelle Geraldine and her dancing partner, Freddie Montgomery, are stranded in Arizona when their troupe breaks up. In order to raise money, Geraldine orders Freddie to impersonate masked bandit Black Jim so that she may turn him in and collect the $2,000 reward. When the real Black Jim holds up her coach, Geraldine, believing that he is Freddie, boldly pulls out her gun, whereupon the bandit shoots her in the wrist and takes her to his cabin. Later Freddie, too, is captured, but when members of the gang insult Geraldine, he refuses to protect her. Gradually Black Jim falls in love with her, and she comes to admire him so deeply that instead of seizing a chance to escape one night, she returns to warn him of the gang's plot to kill him.
Fleeced by a pair of good-time gals, the boys are unable to pay their bar tab and end up cooling their heels in jail. Once released, the two pals decide to join the army, if only to know where their next meal is coming from. They are shipped to a remote frontier outpost, which is already a hotbed of intrigue due to the commanding officer's lust for the wife of one of his officers.
Grace Martin, the adopted daughter of Sheriff Martin, was rescued by him from a band of Indians when she was an infant. She is in love with Buck Gibson. Grace asks the Sheriff's consent to marry Buck, and his thoughts revert back to the time when he saved Grace from Indians. He gives his consent to Grace's request to marry Gibson, and Grace runs away happy to tell her lover of the good news. That night Buck Gibson and some pals rob the town bank, and Buck is identified as one of the bandits.
Irene Norris returns to the ranch from boarding school. She sees Dick Taylor, ranch foreman, win over Poncho, and half-breed, in a bucking bronco contest. She admires Dick's ability as a rider, and a friendship springs up between them much to the rage of Poncho, who loves the girl.
When Ruth returns to the Bar "G" ranch after acquiring eastern polish, she chides the boys for chewing tobacco, cussing and smoking cigarettes. When Tom, the foreman, orders the boys out on the range to round up cattle they are pleased, for they are anxious to be away from Ruth's constant admonitions.
Grace, daughter of Jim Williams, a ranch owner, and Tom Martin, a Texas ranger, love one another. Buck Miller is the disappointed rival in love. Buck swears vengeance and plans with Delgado, a Mexican outlaw, to capture Grace and her father and hold them for Grace makes her escape and tells Tom and his pals of the outlaws' action.
Carrie Simpkins, a lady lawyer, arrives in a small western town and begins the practice of law. Pete, Jake and Jerry, three cowboys, fall in love with her, but do not progress. Smithers, the pioneer town lawyer happens by and sees the sign, "Carrie Simpkins, Lawyer," and decides to pay her a visit, which he does, and he also falls in love with her. Pete, Jake and Jerry all hit upon the same plan unknown to each other, which will help their chances with Carrie.
A disgraced son of a mine owner discovers a plot among the workers to defraud his father.