Despite its somewhat lofty, Zane Grey-flavored title, The Vanishing Westerner is a modest Republic western, off and on the screen in about an hour. Cowboy hero Monte Hale is accused of the murder of sheriff Arthur Space. The principal accuser is Space's look-alike British cousin, who stirs the townsfolk into a lynch-mob mentality. While on the run, Hale discovers that the "murder" sheriff was never dead in the first place; he's disguised himself as his own cousin, in order to cover up his criminal activities with bandit Roy Barcroft. With the help of his grizzled sidekick Paul Hurst, Hale brings the villains to justice and clears his name.