After killing a man outside Largo, Gar Davis flees into Comanche-controlled territory and is followed by the sheriff and his posse. Spotting the body of a white man killed by a Comanche arrow, Gar switches his jacket for the dead man's and pushes the body over a cliff, hoping the sheriff will presume the body belongs to Gar. After the ruse succeeds, Gar continues on foot until he reaches a ranch house, where he tries to steal a horse, but is intercepted by young Chad, the son of widowed ranch owner Celia Gray, who takes a shot at him and hits him in the head. Waking up the next morning with a minor head injury, Gar admits he is guilty of attempting to steal the horse, then warns Celia that Comanche surround the ranch. As Gar offers to escort them to the safety of Fort Dobbs, the Indians start a shootout forcing Gar, Celia and Chad to take refuge in the house. Gar and Chad fire at the Comanche until nightfall, when Gar furtively saddles up three horses and flees with Chad and Celia. Riding toward Fort Dobbs, Gar suggests taking the long route to Fort Dobbs to avoid Comanche, prompting Celia to insist that they return to Largo, but Gar sternly refuses. Tired of Gar's orders, Celia decides to ford a stream without his help and falls into the water. Celia wakes up hours later, wrapped in only a blanket, and surmises that Gar saved her from drowning. She apologizes for her foolishness and asks what he is running from, but a sullen Gar refuses to answer. Soon after, Celia recognizes her husband's jacket in Gar's saddlebag and, seeing the bloodied hole, accuses Gar of killing him. Gar tells her he traded his jacket for a dead man's to avert a posse, but Celia refuses to believe him. The next morning, when Clett, an outlaw gun peddler, tries to accompany them to Fort Dobbs, Gar shuns the man. Later, Chad apologizes to Gar for not trusting him, explaining that his dad taught him not to judge people without knowing the facts. Later that day, when Gar tells Celia to wait until he crosses a valley safely before following, Celia accuses Gar of abandoning them, but then watches as Comanche ambush Gar in the valley. While Gar returns fire from behind hillside boulders, a Comanche sneaks up behind him. Clett kills the Indian and helps drive the Comanche away. Soon after, Celia and Chad rejoin Gar and Clett and continue on the long river route to Dobbs. That evening, when Clett shows Gar his merchandise, new automatic rifles that can hold fifteen shells in one chamber, Gar suggests that the unscrupulous Clett would sell the weapons to the highest bidder, including the Comanche. Softened by Clett's flirtations, Celia confides to him that she believes Gar killed her husband. Clett at first offers to escort her to Dobbs if she will sleep with him and then attempts to rape her. Alerted by Celia's screams, Gar orders Clett to leave. Celia then hysterically accuses Gar of killing her husband and Chad overhears her. The next morning, Celia and Gar find that Chad has run away and, when Gar offers to search for him and tell him the truth, Celia asks how Gar will tell the boy he killed his father. Gar retorts, "How do you tell a woman you didn't." Finding Chad, Gar explains that his father died trying to return to Chad and his mother to save them from the Comanche. Doubtful and scared, the young boy vows to kill Gar. Days later, as they near Fort Dobbs, Gar tells them to continue without him. When Chad asks his mother if she believes Gar, Celia reminds him what his father said, "things can appear to be one way, and may be something all together else." As mother and son enter the fort, they find the ground littered with dead soldiers. Spotting the approaching Comanche, Gar joins dozens of men and women in covered wagons racing through the fort's gates to take refuge. After winning the battle, Gar discovers that the refugees are from Largo and the sheriff explains that they fled a Comanche attack on the town. Despite Gar's warning that the Comanche will soon return with reinforcements that will outnumber them, the sheriff reminds Gar that as soon as they win the next battle, he will arrest him for murder. Later, the sheriff tells Celia that Comanche shot her husband with an arrow and that Gar is fleeing the law for the murder of a Largo man with whom his fiancée was having an affair. When Gar offers to risk crossing the Comanche line to seek help in Santa Fe, the sheriff, realizing Gar is their only hope, agrees. As he leaves, Gar tells the sheriff that he only meant to beat his fiancée's lover, but when the man went for a gun, Gar was forced to shoot in self-defense. Celia wishes him a speedy and safe return, finally understanding Gar's great sacrifice for her and for the people of Largo. When Gar meets Clett on his way to Santa Fe and asks him to return to Dobbs with the automatic guns, he refuses, forcing Gar to kill him to save the people of Largo. Hours later, Gar arrives at the fort with the rifles just as the Comanche begin another shootout. Racing through the gates using a stampede of horses as cover, Gar hands out the new rifles, ensuring victory. Later, Celia announces she and Chad are headed for Santa Fe, where they will trade their two horses for train fare to join her family in St. Louis. When the sheriff suggests that Gar escort them there, all realize that Gar's criminal past has been forgiven. As the townspeople head for Largo, Celia, Gar and Chad ride toward Santa Fe to begin a new life.
