A New York gentleman is advised to go south to recover his health and when his father's old coachman returns a wealthy cattleman from California and offers him a position he accepts. He bids farewell to the young girl he loves, they correpond for several years, and finally he asks her to come west and marry him. When she arrives with her mother she does not recognise him in his rough garb but when he has visited his tailor, barber, etc, she feels her old feelings revive; and he has become his own rival. Lightly written with theme a little unusual. (PB)