The movie opens with a family shooting from the window of their home, as they are robbed of their cattle. John Tobin (John Wayne) arrives home later that night and discovers his family killed and their cattle missing. Tobin sets out in search of Pandro Zanti (Earl Dwire), the local bandito, for all appearances a stereotypical Mexican outlaw, though the script is twice careful to tell us he is half white and half Apache and only pretends to be Mexican.