Joel McCrea, Julie Adams, and John McIntire star in this entertaining Western that has it all: revenge, love, gunfights, a hero who isn’t all good or all bad either, and Joel McCrea, an iconic Western movie star.

Needing a change of scenery fast, gunslinger Bat Masterson heads to Dodge City. He wants to visit his honest, reliable brother and lay low for a while. Ed is hard at work as a city marshal and catches his brother up on lots of details about his life. First, he is betrothed to a woman named Pauline, and second, he intends to run for sheriff against Jim Regan, the corrupt, current sheriff of Dodge City. As Ed explains to Bat, Regan and his men are always undermining his attempts to clean up Dodge City.

Since Bat intends to stay, he decides to try to make an honest living by buying a share in The Lady Gay saloon. The owner, Lily, is a widow because Regan and his cronies killed her husband. Now almost broke, she is desperate for a partner since Regan and his deputies have been running her out of business and scaring her suppliers and customers away. As a result, Bat’s new partnership in the saloon catches Regan’s attention right away.

Although Regan tries to buy out his share, Bat refuses. With Bat’s investment, the new partners can buy much-needed supplies and fix up the saloon. When the renovations are complete, Bat and Lily throw a re-opening night party.

To their delight, the celebration at The Lady Gay saloon is a big success. But unfortunately, when the Saturday night drunken revelries get out of hand in Dodge City, disaster strikes…and Ed is shot and killed by an unknown assailant. Certain that Jim Regan and his men are to blame, Bat vows to become sheriff in his brother’s place and clean up Dodge City in his memory.

But old habits are hard to break—and old acquaintances are even harder to avoid. Despite Bat’s best intentions, even he wonders if he can hold it all together long enough to win the election—without avenging Ed’s death—or getting mixed up in other illegal activities.

The real question is: Can this well-meaning, but not always law-abiding, gunslinger and gambler be an honest lawman for long…or is trouble destined to find him?