 Shadrach Jones (William Elliott), ex-Texas State Policeman, has a ruthless determination to find and kill the man who shot his brother in the back and stole the money with which he was to buy a ranch for he and Shadrach. At the saloon-hotel ran by Adelaide (Marie Windsor), Shadrach is convinced that one of the cowhands on a cattle drive by Captain McKellar (Walter Brennan) to Montana is the killer, and he takes the trail-herd boss job to identify the man. McKellar preaches to Jones that he should forget revenge and let the law of retribution take care of the killer. Shadrach s hard driving of the men and his hunt for the killer makes him bitterly hated, and his retribution quest ends in a manner he has not anticipated.