A posse's pursuit of bank robbers ends in disappointment when they return empty-handed and the sheriff is wounded; flashbacks reveal what went wrong, as Sheriff John Frazier (Broderick Crawford) joins forces with Jed Clayton (John Derek), who was once influenced by the man his father, Sampson Drune (Charles Bickford), trusted before he was cheated out of his money by Art Romer, George Romer, and his son Art.