Hired to protect a small mining town in Utah, gunslinger Clay Blaisedell (Henry Fonda) and his devoted follower, Tom Morgan (Anthony Quinn), partake in numerous liberties afforded by their position of power. While Blaisedell and Morgan match the violence of the outlaws they fight, the local inhabitants desire more peaceful resolutions to the crime problem. When reformed thug Johnny Gannon (Richard Widmark) takes the post of sheriff, he finds himself in competition with the town's hired guns.