 Joe Mundy (Jeffrey Hunter) is being released from prison and an old convict, whom he has befriended, tells him the location of a stolen cache of gold. Leaving the prison, Joe is followed to Glendale, Arizona by Little Brother Williams (Neville Brand). There Joe meets Henrietta Clifford (Sheree North), a waitress, who befriends him after he is badly beaten by Williams. Marshal Hannibal (Barry Sullivan) questions Joe, who is unable to identify his assailant. At the boarding house where Henrietta is staying, Joe meets Mrs. Williams (Ruth Donnelly) and her sons, Little Brother and Clem (Jacques Aubuchon). Mrs. Williams  husband had participated in the gold robbery but had been killed before he could reveal the location of the cache. Joe also encounters Uncle George (Walter Brennan), Mrs. Williams  eccentric brother. Joe and Henrietta leave town to find the gold and are followed by the marshal. The two come to a road where they find Mrs. Williams, her sons and Uncle George waiting for them with a shotgun, and order them to proceed to the gold. (But not before Joe is beaten up by Little Brother for the third time). As they come down out of the mountains they discover that the waters of Lake Mead have covered the valley in which the gold was hidden, as Hoover Dam has been built since the old convict entered the prison many years before.