Good-natured drifter and sharpshooter Dempsey Rae returns to Wyoming and finds work on the territory's largest spread, the 8,000-head Triangle Ranch. Soon, the new ranch owner, Miss Reed Bowman, arrives with plans to move in another 22,000 head, threatening to squeeze out smaller ranchers. A bloody range war breaks out, and Dempsey, smitten with Bowman, must pick a side.