 The Civil War is over; former sheriff Jim Trask returns to Abilene, Kansas from the Confederate army, to find the town divided into nastily feuding cattle vs. farming factions, working up to a range war. Jim s friend, one-handed Dave Mosely, is now a cattle tycoon and about to marry Jim s girl Peggy. The situation begs for taking sides, but after the horrors of war, Jim can t bear to touch a gun again...