 Cattle buyer Rex Allen (Rex Allen) rides into Taskerville and sees two men toss Slim Pickens (Slim Pickens), a water diviner hired by the local ranchers, into a wagon. Rex chases the wagon to the barn of rancher Lem Shaver (Alan Bridge), where he learns from Slim that Russ Tasker (James Anderson), a wealthy rancher and owner of the only artesian-fed reservoir in the valley, has charged such high prices for water that the ranchers are bankrupt. Tasker s henchmen kill rancher Matt Becker (Monte Montague) and have his son Johnny (Michael Hall) branded as an outlaw. Rex learns that the Beckers had found a meager water supply and Rex suspects that is what led to the killing and the charges against Johnny. With the aid of Slim and Johnny s sweetheart, Sue (Mary Ellen Kay), Rex finds that the Becker spring is fed from the same underground lake that feeds Tasker s well-guarded reservoir. But Rex is jailed for aiding Johnny.