Dale Robertson stars as Ben Calhoun, a cagey professional gambler in the west of the 1870s. After an unusually successful card game in Kansas City, Calhoun finds that his opponent has no ready cash. Instead, the gambler wins ownership of the Buffalo Pass, Scalplock and Defiance Railroad. Calhoun soons learns that his prize is no prize--the railroad is plagued by bandits, Indians, bad track, and rival railroad barons who'd like nothing better than to see Calhoun fail.