After the war, with Confederate money now useless, many Missouri farmers find themselves unable to pay their bills. William Merrick and his men begin foreclosing on them or running them off, resulting in the death of Martha Adams, sweetheart of one of the Younger gang.
The brothers Cole, Bob and Jim Younger ride back to Missouri just as their father is shot by Merrick's hired gun, Greg Bilson. A sheriff is killed as well and the Youngers are falsely accused of murdering him, so they retaliate by joining Jesse James's gang and pulling off robberies, giving the money to the needy farmers to pay their taxes.
Merrick decides to flush out Jim Younger by arresting the woman he loves, Mary Hathaway, as an accomplice to the Younger brothers' crimes. He offers to exchange Mary for Jim behind bars, secretly plotting to kill Jim once he's in his custody. The Youngers turn the tables, leading Merrick and Bilson to their own accidental deaths. They leave town and head for Minnesota to pull off another theft, but Mary and the Missourians try to figure a way to bring them safely back home.
