Clint Cooper (Audie Murphy), a young cowhand, is forced to leave town and follow the life of a gunfighter after he is pushed into a duel in which he kills the two sons of a powerful and vindictive rancher. When Clint returns two years later to inherit his father's ranch, it is with the hopes that his sweetheart, schoolteacher Helen Reed (Merry Anders), has waited for him. Though unwanted by most of the townsfolk who have marked him a murderer, he helps fight off a gang of outlaws led by a former gun-slinging pal, after the sheriff, to whom Helen has become betrothed, is shot down. Now a hero, Clint wins back his girl, and is allowed to settle down in friendship and peace with his neighbors.