Vermont native Willie Duggan comes west by stage coach. When he arrives in Silver Creek, broke but proud, he is befriended by the “captain”. Then he is brutally beaten for talking to dance hall hostess Carole Ridgeway. The thrashing, however, is terminated by Johnny Liam, who shoots and kills Duggan's assailant. Duggan finds work with a transport company, delivering the miners' payroll. When Duggan and his assistant Luther are ambushed, Duggan kills the robber.
After discovering that rewards are given for such work, Duggan and Luther become bounty hunters. Although they capture outlaw Mike Clayman, his henchmen follow the pair, killing Luther and wounding Duggan. The unconscious victim is found by rancher Ridgeway, whose daughter Carole restores the gunman to health. Despite his love for Carole, Duggan resolves to avenge his partner's death, cuts a double-barrel shotgun down to pistol length, and launches a one-man campaign to exterminate outlaws, Johnny Liam's younger brother among them. and later, Liam himself.
In his zeal, Duggan finally kills an innocent man, becoming a criminal in his own right. While eloping with Carole, Duggan himself is slain from ambush by a bounty hunter.
