Chalkeye and a new rancher are wandering around a dusty, ghost-town called Drybone. The man is new to the area and feels a bit out of place. Chalkeye is a cow-puncher along with the other men. Chalkeye and Post Hole Jack are showing the new guy the graveyard in the town. They see a man on a horse approaching. He appears to be English. He says he is looking for a place called Drybone where he can be put up in a hotel. The new rancher tells the Englishman that there is a hotel which he is staying that is only ten minutes away. 

The Englishman has animals with him. Chalkeye is friendly with him. They show him around town and the Englishman comments on how there probably aren't many cribs around. Chalkeye and the Englishman banter about Chalkeye helping him be a better cow-puncher. The Englishman absent-mindedly checks into the hotel. 

The punchers look at his name in the book. It appears fancy and includes the phrase ‘lord.’ They joke that it may be a fake name. They wonder why he is out here on the frontier. They joke that he lost his castle in a game of cards. 

Some of the punchers, like the doughgy, leave. The new ranchman who is also living in the hotel is approached by the gambler who runs the place. The gambler-man explains that the behavior of the Englishman is odd and nothing he has seen before. While they are talking, the Mongolian servant calls out that dinner is ready and has been prepared. 

The gambler landlord says he and the Englishman played double-or-quits for the board money and that the Englishman won double. The gambler says he will win it back. 

The servant uses a powder that cleans the sink but sends bugs everywhere in the hotel.

A few people play poker. The Englishman comes downstairs and complains that bugs woke up him. The gambler who owns the hotel invites him to join in on the game. 

The Englishman makes a scene where he could use more bedding and then lies down on the table. The moment is disrupted when violence and gunshots are heard from another room. The new rancher tells the Englishman to get down or he could be killed. It is a duel between someone and the gambling hotel owner. Both men are killed.

The new ranchman invites the Englishman upstairs to share his bug-free room and whisky. They spend the next few days together. 

Lots of travelers pass through the town and talk to the Englishman. Jacob Saunders takes over the hotel. They talk about how the Englishman doesn’t like Saunders but he likes Chalkeye. The Englishman buys supplies to keep his room clean. They go get mail. The Englishman receives a letter that his brother John died. A lot of the townspeople are there when he opens his letter. He makes an odd metaphor about Strawberry leaves and confides in Chalkeye who had gone along to get the mail. The group with the Englishman getting the mail inquires as to what the strawberry leaves mean. It has to do with a hierarchy in his English family and receiving a certain title. He is now the ninth in line to receive it. The Englishman explains a slew of British peerages and is apparently, a Prince. 

All the cow-punchers get excited and cheer as the Englishman is recounting the story to them. Everyone starts calling him Strawberries. 

He stays for years and keeps his money to himself. The Drybone country liked him. Chalkeye inquired to be like his American mentor and the pair become close.

The people in the town gossip about him and think his family is paying to keep him away. The Englishman hides this but sometimes people can see through his calm bluff. Apparently, one of the women widowed in the duel when the Englishman arrived in Drybone, fancies him. 

The Englishman shoots his first white-tailed deer and a bunch of the ranchers excitedly go to see him with it. 

Chalkeye continues training him to be a rancher. The punchers feel that this Englishman is an example of a trustable Englishman as he assimilates into their culture. The ranchers begin to think that the Englishman has forgotten his true raising. One morning he asks why the punchers howl; they explain it is something they can’t help when they have strong feelings. The Englishman gets excited and they all howl and jump around. 

Saunders gambles with Strawberries. Saunders is trying to sell Strawberries a horse. Chalkeye tells him not to try and ride Saunder’s horse. Strawberries mounts the horse anyways, it eventually bucked him off and he was carried away by Chalkeye. No one can do anything to Saunders unless Strawberries dies, which he does not. He is taken care of by a pretty young woman. 

When Strawberries wakes up they tell him about a stranger that has come into the country and is selling stolen horses. The crew is going to take care of him. Strawberries participate in lynching.

The new ranchman goes on an elk trip. People from Wyoming write him and ask what he knows about Strawberries. Over time he hears news of Strawberries going to new places causing suspicion and then becoming popular in the place which he goes. 

Drybone remains Strawberries' main home but he is spotted throughout the state of Wyoming over the passing years. Strawberries assimilates in many ways but will never play cards. 

Back in Drybone, Straberries' mysterious and unexplained arrival in the town remains unquestioned though he still receives money from England, a sports letter he called Pink Un, and letters with English postage. Strawberries became a public figure in the area. 

Chalkeye, the doughgy, and the new ranchman talk about Strawberries and banter about whether or not his folks will let him go home. They also gossip about the town’s widow moving in with him. 

After the doughgy leaves, Chalkeye reveals that Strawberries is planning on returning to his home. He wishes that the widow would’ve stayed with Jack Saunders. 

Some of the local ranch wives don’t want their husbands bringing the Englishman around anymore. 

While hanging out with Jack Saunders and some of the ranchers, the doughgy is reading the newspaper. While reading, the doughgy says that a new Englishman, Deepmere, will be coming to town. The doughgy jokes that it isn’t likely that this one will also be a homewrecker. 

Strawberries and Deepmere know of each other as they were housemates at Oxford. Strawberries read over the paragraph in the hotel office after the doughgy told him of Deepmere’s oncoming arrival. Strawberries looks deeply introspective and bothered. They look at pictures of the new Englishman together.

Deepmere doesn’t greet Strawberries when he arrives. None of the ranchers look at Strawberries. It is immensely upsetting. He becomes depressive and isolates himself. One day he comes out and joins in on the card/gambling game. 

Chalkeye tells the new rancher that the reason Strawberries doesn’t play cards is because of his addiction to gambling. Deepmere’s presence in Drybone triggered Strawberries’ relapse. Chalkeye explains that he wrote a letter for Strawberries to give his family about how he has avoided gambling, but Strawberries denied it.

Strawberries would sleep in bed all day and gamble all night. Everyone in town pretty much felt bad for him. His companion, who has been widowed from the duel, stayed with him and she paid all the bills. He gambled away everything he had. Then, however, Strawberries begins to win. 

Chalkeye finds out that Saunders plans to kill Strawberries as it is suspected that Strawberries is cheating at the games. Chalkeye says he will be helping Strawberries escape. The new ranchman says he should just tell Strawberries that people want to kill him. Chalkeye and Saunders end up shooting each other to death while Strawberries is off looking for jewels that Chalkeye lied about. 

All the ranch people go away to new states and places. Every now and then the new ranchman hears about Strawberries being someplace. Eventually, the new ranchman returns to Drybone which has been completely abandoned. A few buildings and the cemetery still remain. He stops by the luxury cabin and opens the door. Inside is Strawberries lying in bed. The two eat lunch and chat. They think of Chalkeye and agree that Chalkeye was a better man than Strawberries.