Bill Doolan (Audie Murphy) is released from jail and is going home on the train when it is held up by his boyhood friends, the Dalton Gang. Doolin finds himself accused of helping the crime and winds up an outlaw.
Blaise Starrett, kanun kaçakları küçük kasabayı işgal ettiğinde çiftçilerle anlaşmazlığa düşen bir çiftçidir. Kanun kaçakları yalnızca kötü şöhretli liderleri tarafından kontrol altında tutulmaktadır, ancak ölümcül bir yara teşhisi konur ve kasaba patlamayı bekleyen bir barut fıçısı haline gelir.
Two black bounty hunters ride into a small town out West in pursuit of an outlaw. They discover that the town has no sheriff, and soon take over that position, much against the will of the mostly white townsfolk.
Karl Westover, an inexperienced farm boy, runs away after unintentionally killing a neighbor, whose family pursues him for vengeance. He meets Barbarosa, a gunman of near-mythical proportions, who is himself in danger from his father-in-law Don Braulio, a wealthy Mexican rancher. Don Braulio wants Barbarosa dead for marrying his daughter against the father's will. Barbarosa reluctantly takes the clumsy Karl on as a partner, as both of them look to survive the forces lining up against them.
A cattle-vs.-sheepman feud loses Connie Dickason her fiance, but gains her his ranch, which she determines to run alone in opposition to Frank Ivey, "boss" of the valley, whom her father Ben wanted her to marry. She hires recovering alcoholic Dave Nash as foreman and a crew of Ivey's enemies. Ivey fights back with violence and destruction, but Dave is determined to counter him legally... a feeling not shared by his associates. Connie's boast that, as a woman, she doesn't need guns proves justified, but plenty of gunplay results.
Ross Bodine and Frank Post are cowhands on Walt Buckman's R-Bar-R ranch. Bodine is older and broods a bit about how he will get along when he's too old to cowboy. Post is young and rambunctious and ambitious for a better life than wrangling cows. When one of their fellow cowboys is killed in a corral accident, Post suggests a way into a better life for himself and his friend: robbing a bank. Bodine reluctantly joins in the plan and the two contrive to rob the local bank. They make good their escape initially, but Walt Buckman and his two sons, John and Paul, are incensed at this betrayal by their own trusted employees. John and Paul set out to bring Bodine and Post to justice.
Alkolik ama aynı zamanda da dişli bir şerif olan J.P. Harrah eski bir şerif olan dostu Cole Thornton ile güçlerini birleştirir. Yaşlı bir yerli olan Bull ve kumarbaz Mississippi ekibe katılır. J.P. Harrah’ın sevgilisi olan Maudie ise Cole Thornton’un eski sevgilisidir. İki çiftlik sahibi arasında su kavgası yaşanmaktadır. İç savaş sonrasında Bart Jason kaynağı belli olmayan, torba dolusu parayla ortaya çıkmıştır ve hızla büyümektedir. İşlerini büyütmek için daha fazla suya ihtiyacı vardır. Bu yüzden Kevin MacDonald’ın sahibi olduğu çiftliğin suyuna göz dikmiştir. Yaklaşık 20 yıl önce bölgeye yerleşip kurtlara ve kızılderililere rağmen çiftlik kuran, kurak araziyi işleyen MacDonald, dört oğlu ve bir kızıyla Jason’a direnmektedir. Şerif ve ekibi, suyu çalınmaya çalışılan MacDonald’a yardımcı olurlar.