When hired gun Tim Strawn (Lee Marvin) kills her rancher father, Cat Ballou (Jane Fonda) becomes an outlaw set on vengeance. Enlisting the help of washed-up gunslinger Kid Shelleen (also Marvin) as well as the handsome bandit Clay Boone (Michael Callan), Cat strikes back at the land-development company that employed Strawn, and eventually targets the assassin himself. Adding to the lively comedic mood of the film are narrative song performances by Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye.