| Director | Henry Hathaway |
|---|---|
| Genre | Western film |
| Runtime | 95 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $1.2 million |
Clay Lomax is released from prison after serving seven years for robbing a bank. He goes looking for his former crime partner, Sam Foley, who shot Lomax in the back as they ran from the bank and left him to be arrested. Learning of his release, Foley hires a trio of young thugs—Pepe, Skeeter and Bobby Jay Jones— for the promise of $100 (5 double eagle gold pieces) to track Lomax's movements. Foley tells Bobby Jay they are not to kill Lomax; if they do, they will not be paid the $100. Lomax locates an old friend, Trooper, a former U.S. Army cavalry soldier now using a wheelchair, running a saloon/hotel in a town called Weed. Lomax offers Trooper money for information about his ex-partner. The thugs catch up to Lomax at Trooper's and force Alma, a prostitute/saloon girl working for the gruff but kindly old soldier, to spend the night with them. They wind up disturbing Lomax from his sleep with his old girlfriend Emma with the racket in the neighboring room, and have an altercation in the corridor.
Later Lomax meets a train at the whistle stop to meet a former lady companion who was bringing a large sum of money that she had held for him all these years. But surprisingly, the conductor, Mr. Frenatore, brings out a 7-year-old girl, Decky Ortega, who had accompanied the woman on her train journey. The woman had died a few days before in a distant town leaving the girl an orphan. Lomax finally pulls the child off the train. The conductor hands him a wad of cash saying that if he hadn't retrieved and taken custody of the kid, the money would have gone towards her support when the conductor turned her over to a sheriff in the next large town on the line. Lomax tries to find someone to take care of Decky, but is unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the thugs mistreat and leave bruises on Alma, then vandalize the hotel/saloon as the old handicapped owner demands restitution. Led by Bobby Jay, they fatally shoot Trooper and rob the saloon, taking Lomax's money and Alma with them, before continuing to follow Lomax. Lomax returns, learning of Trooper's death and that he mentioned the location "Gun Hill" with his dying breath.
During the journey to Gun Hill, Lomax and stubborn little Decky bond closer, especially after he throws her in a stream to wash and scrub her, then gently dries and warms her by the campfire. She asks him if he is her father which he denies, but he knew her mother well and the paternal implication is clear. One night, the gang of thugs watch Lomax in his camp, but he hears them and disarms them. When he finds out the purpose of their trailing mission, he tells them to go ahead to Foley in Gun Hill and tell him that he is coming for him. Later, a rainstorm forces Lomax and Decky to take shelter at the ranch house of a lonely widow named Juliana Farrell, who quickly becomes infatuated with Lomax and offers to watch over Decky. The thugs catch up to them later in the night and take everyone prisoner. Bobby Jay orders Pepe to go down the trail and watch for the return of Farrell's four ranch hands, who had gone into town. Bobby Jay then gets drunk, knocks out Lomax and terrorizes the young mother by saying he was going to shoot a target off her son's head. but uses Decky instead. Later, he kills saloon girl Alma. Lomax wakes up to see part of this and gets behind Skeeter whom Bobby Jay accidentally kills while shooting at Lomax.
Bobby Jay grabs Decky and flees the house on his horse. The horse goes lame as he approaches Pepe on the trail. When Pepe refuses to give up his horse Bobby Jay kills him. Decky takes advantage of his distraction to escape into the night. Her yells fail to alert Lomax as he rides past chasing Bobby Jay, but she is picked up and taken back to the ranch by Juliana and her son who are following behind Lomax. Now alone, Bobby Jay has ridden ahead to warn Foley and get his promised money, but gets greedy at seeing the amount of cash in Foley's safe. Foley tries to reach for a gun, and is shot dead. Bobby Jay is surprised by Lomax, who arrives while Bobby Jay is gathering his loot. Now enraged and seeking revenge for all that Bobby Jay has done, Lomax terrorizes Bobby Jay by shooting things off of his head while demanding Decky's whereabouts. When he confesses that she ran off into the night and he has no idea where she is, Lomax has the housekeeper place a cartridge on top of Bobby Jay's head and tells him that either the cartridge will explode and kill him, or Bobby Jay will not be fast enough to quick draw his gun to kill Lomax. Bobby Jay tries to outdraw Lomax but cannot and is shot dead by the far more experienced gunslinger. Lomax leaves the money with Foley and Bobby Jay's bodies, tells the housekeeper to go get the law, and then goes to find Decky back at Juliana's house.