Ellen Beldon is due to be hanged in Texas for the murder of her husband, but Jud Farrow, ranch foreman for her uncle, breaks her out of jail and escorts her to the safety of her uncle's New Mexico ranch. Mace Beldon, her father-in-law, offers professional gunman Gil McCord $5000 to bring her back to Texas so she can be hung. He is able to get her away, and during the trip back, she tells him the story of her trial. She claims her brother-in-law, Kell Beldon, shot his step-brother (her husband) so that he would be his father's sole heir, and that drunken fur-trapper Elby Kirby was the only witness. Gill decides to see Kirby and force a confession from him. Meanwhile, Kell gets Ellen back by chance and turns her over to the law. Gill gets an order from the district judge to stop the execution, and Kell, seeing his story falling apart, tries to out-shoot Gill.