After borrowing money from his girlfriend (Lee Remick) to buy a ranch and follow his dreams, ladder-climbing cowboy "Lat" Evans (Don Murray) promptly takes up with a banker's daughter (Patricia Owens), runs for office and reluctantly joins a posse to hunt down his cattle-rustling best friend, Tom Ping (Stuart Whitman). But when Tom is finally caught and forced to face an angry lynch mob, will Lat have the courage to defend his friend?