Sir Robin of Loxley returns to England from fighting in the Crusades to discover that the notorious Sir Roger DeLisle has been given his family's lands and castles, and has had Robin declared an outlaw.

Robin lightens the load of a greedy, crooked moneylender by taking his purse full of money, and giving the contents of it back to the poor villagers and farmers from whom he took it.

Little John, a serf at Rutland Court, is ordered by his master to capture Robin Hood. Discovering the outlaw's camp, and finding sympathy with Robin's cause, Little John joins the band of outlaws and is appointed Robin's second-in-command.

Disguised as a monk, Robin visits Friar Tuck, a jovial, fat, holy man, and together they organize the escape of Mildred from the clutches of the Lord Germaine and the Sheriff. Though his church is in Nottingham, the friar becomes a close ally of the outlaw and begins to pay frequent visits to Sherwood.

Having ambushed the Sheriff's courier, Robin's life is placed in peril. He is arrested by the Sheriff and Lady Marian Fitzwalter, his childhood companion, and is accused of being in league with outlaws.

Nottingham's tax collectors find it harder to collect the county's levied assessments. When the Sheriff of Nottingham decides to make an example of Will Stukely, a poor farmer who could not pay his taxes, by hanging him, Robin Hood is determined to rescue the young man.