Out on the Texas frontier, Jim Garry (Robert Mitchum) rides into town, quickly getting caught in a simmering confrontation between homesteaders and cattle ranchers. After accepting employment from an old mercenary friend, Tate Riling (Robert Preston), Garry comes to realize that Riling has been manipulating the tensions between rancher John Lufton (Tom Tully) and the local settlers in a bid to swindle the Luftons out of their livestock. Garry becomes torn between his conscience and his greed until he finds himself falling for John Lufton’s daughter, the formidable Amy (Barbara Bel Geddes). Soon, the two old friends will face off in a bloody showdown from which only one will leave alive.