When Penny (Love) goes to a ranch, she is mistaken for a thief. She encounters the ranch foreman (Oakman), who tries to reform her. When another girl is revealed to be the real thief, Penny's reputation is cleared, and she reveals her true identity: a film actress on vacation. She and the foreman realize their love for each other, and Penny decides to stay on the ranch with him.
From a newspaper ad for the film: "As a country boy, with aspirations to become a great detective, Charles Ray is said to afford considerable laughter and a few thrills in "A Village Sleuth" . . . After his attempts to round up some melon thieves in his dad's apple orchard, have gotten him into hot water, Charlie goes out and gets a real job in a private sanitarium. There he encounters a real mystery and, his detective instincts aroused starts to unravel it. The results are surprising in the extreme. Charlie is revealed not only as the logical successor to Sherlock Holmes but wins a pretty girl in the bargain. "A Village Sleuth" was written by Agnes Christine Johnston, scenarist of "Twenty-three and a Half Hours Leave," and produced for Paramount release by Thomas H. Ince. Winifred Westover is the leading woman. Jerome Storm directed.