In the early 1900s, Will Rogers returns to his hometown in Oklahoma after two years of drifting. He meets and falls in love with Betty Blake, but is unable to settle down on the ranch because he is happier meeting people and performing rope tricks, and his management style is too easygoing for his strict father, Senator Clement V. Rogers. Will joins a Wild West shows and tours the world, then meets up with Betty at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and proposes to her. After they are married, they combine their honeymoon with one of Will's rodeo tours, which ends in New York's Madison Square Garden where he becomes a hero by lassoing a dangerous bull that gets loose during a performance. This wins him an offer to perform in vaudeville, but his rodeo act doesn't carry over very well and his show flops. After six months of unemployment and with a baby almost due, Will goes on stage as a last minute fill-in performer and is forced to do his act alone, where his down-home comedy chatter scores a big hit with the audience. This wins him a lead role in the Ziegfeld Follies where he adds political commentary to his act and becomes famous as a "cowboy philosopher" known for witty remarks about politicians and issues of the day. Later, Will goes to Hollywood to work in films, meets Wiley Post and learns to fly, and goes on a European tour meeting heads of state. After the Great Depression hits, Will works long hours flying around the country to perform benefit shows lifting the spirits of the American people and raising funds for the poor. At the 1932 Democratic National Convention, Will is nominated as a "favorite son." Later, Will takes off with Wiley to Alaska and apparently has an ominous premonition, as Will has the plane circle back over the airfield to wave goodbye to Betty one last time.
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