In this gripping Western, Ronald Reagan plays a man who believes in justice – above all else.

In 1882, a sharpshooting marshal named Frame Johnson brings The Durango Kid back to Tombstone, Arizona for a fair trial. While people are grateful to him for his firm law and order stand, a group of townspeople still form a lynch mob at the jail in order to mete out their own justice on The Durango Kid!

Johnson is the only one protecting the jail, so he threatens to shoot anyone from the mob who tries to enter. That includes his brother, Jimmy, a hot head who leads the pack.

Disgusted, Frame tells Jimmy that he is done trying to give people something they do not appreciate. He announces that he, Jimmy, and their brother Lute will be leaving for Cottonwood, Arizona, to run a ranch. He intends to bring his sweetheart, Jeannie (the owner of a saloon bequeathed her by her father), so they can get married. But first, the men must get things settled.

They arrive at the Cottonwood Saloon the next day, and local rancher Kurt Durling spots them. In the past, Frame had shot Durling in the hand during a cattle rustling raid – and crippled him.

Frame and his brothers don’t know it yet, but Durling and his family of degenerates run this town. They have the sheriff clearly in their pocket – so much so, that a group headed by Judge Williams eventually asks Frame to take over as Marshal to help clean up the town. Frame refuses, but Lute eventually agrees to take on the role that Frame refused.

All Frame Johnson wanted was to be a rancher and marry his sweetheart. He yearned to leave his old life as a lawman behind. But Durling won’t let him – and he is making it impossible for Frame and his family to lead the quiet life they wanted.

As tensions rise and the situation deteriorates into tragedy, Frame realizes that he will have to intervene to save his family and his town. But he wonders: what exactly will he have to sacrifice for law and order?