| Director | Delmer Daves |
|---|---|
| Genre | Revisionist Western, Western film, romance film |
| Runtime | 89 min |
| Country | United States |
| Box office | $3.6 million |
Tom Jeffords finds a wounded 14-year-old Apache boy dying from buckshot wounds in his back. The boy tries to attack him, but Jeffords gives him water and treats his wounds, staying with him until he heals. The boy's tribesmen appear and are initially hostile but free Jeffords after the boy convinces them that he is a good man who helped him. However, when a group of gold prospectors approaches, the Apaches gag Jeffords and tie him to a tree. He watches helplessly as they attack the prospectors and torture the survivors. The warriors warn him not to enter Apache territory again.
When Jeffords returns to Tucson, he encounters a prospector who escaped the ambush. He corrects a man's exaggerated account of the attack, but Ben Slade does not understand why Jeffords did not kill the Apache boy.
Jeffords declines the army's request to scout Apache territory and instead learns the Apache language and customs from an Indian guide who lives among the townspeople. He plans to approach the Apache leader Cochise's stronghold on behalf of his friend Milt, who is in charge of the mail service in Tucson. The mail has not been reaching its destinations because of Apache raids, and Jeffords believes that the discussion may be a starting point for a peace treaty. He enters the Apache stronghold and talks with Cochise, who agrees to let the mail couriers through. The men realize that their underlying morality is similar, and Cochise is impressed with Jeffords' bravery and willingness to learn his language. Jeffords meets and falls in love with a young Apache woman named Sonseeahray.
Despite the agreement, Apaches attack an army wagon train and kill the survivors. The townsfolk try to lynch Jeffords as a traitor for working with their enemies before he is saved by principled general Oliver Otis Howard, who recruits him to negotiate a wider peace treaty with Cochise. They devise a peace treaty, but a group led by Geronimo oppose it and leave the stronghold. When the renegades ambush a stagecoach, Jeffords seeks help from Cochise, and the stagecoach is saved with the Apaches' help.
Jeffords and Sonseeahray marry in an Apache ceremony. Slade's son visits Jeffords and Cochise to inform them about two of his horses stolen by Cochise's people. Cochise doubts his story, as he knows that Slade hates the Apaches. They accompany the boy up the canyon and are ambushed by Slade and a gang of men from Tucson. Jeffords is shot and badly wounded and Sonseeahray is shot and killed, but Cochise kills most of the men, including Slade. Cochise forbids Jeffords to retaliate, arguing that peace must be maintained. General Howard arrives with some of the townsfolk and informs Jeffords and Cochise that the men who survived the ambush and fled have been captured and will be executed for their crime. The townsfolk offer their condolences and apologize.
Jeffords rides off with the belief that the death of Sonseeahray ensured a lasting peace and that she will always be with him.