Framed for a crime he did not commit, a young cowboy endures the brutal hell of Arizona's Yuma Territorial Penitentiary - until a daring escape flings him back into the very valley where his troubles began. With a crooked deputy on his trail, a smooth-talking confidence man pulling strings behind the scenes, and a simmering war between cattlemen and sheepherders threatening to explode into open bloodshed, he must somehow prove his innocence without a single soul willing to believe him.
Riding under a false name and a hastily grown mustache, he hires on as a ranch foreman for an amiable English gentleman who is hopelessly out of his depth in the lawless West. As bank robberies, rustling, and murder stack up around him, the fugitive finds allies in the most unexpected places - a sharp-tongued saloon girl, a laconic redheaded outlaw, and a deputy whose motives refuse to stay simple. When the real conspiracy behind his framing finally surfaces, settling the score will take more than a fast gun hand.