| Director | John Ford |
|---|
In 1881, Sergeant Braxton Rutledge of the 9th U.S. Cavalry, one of four colored regiments in the U.S. Army, is on trial for rape and murder. His defense is handled by Lt. Tom Cantrell, who is also Rutledge's troop officer. Through flashbacks, the trial witnesses describe the events following the murder of Rutledge's commanding officer, Major Custis Dabney, and the rape and murder of Dabney's daughter Lucy. Mary Beecher, a woman in whom Cantrell shows romantic interest, provides evidence in Rutledge's favor, noting that he had saved her life when Apache Indians were attacking.
Circumstantial evidence suggests that Rutledge committed the crimes, and his desertion after the killings appears to underscore his guilt. In a flashback, Cantrell finds Rutledge and arrests him, but Rutledge escapes captivity during an Indian raid. Aware of an impending ambush, he returns to warn his fellow cavalrymen and repels the attack alongside them.
A guilty verdict from the all-White military court appears inevitable, and the locals enjoy the spectacle. However, Cantrell extracts a confession while interrogating witness Chandler Hubble, the father of a man who was interested in Lucy, and Rutledge is exonerated. Cantrell and Beecher happily look forward to a life together.