Charm, intelligence and succes in criminal career doesn't prevent Paris Pitman Jr. to start doing ten years in territory prison. However, those years should pass quickly because of an enormous loot previously stashed away. New idealistic warden would only make Pitman think of getting his fortyne even sooner.

In 1883 Paris Pitman, the sole survivor of a $500,000 robbery staged by his gang, hides the money in a nest of rattlesnakes. While waiting for the robbery to be forgotten, Pitman is apprehended in a brothel by the diligent Sheriff Lopeman and is sent to an Arizona prison. Pitman reveals to the inmates of the prison that only he knows the location of the stolen money. Warden Le Goff summons Pitman to his office and offers to let him escape in exchange for half of the money, and Pitman agrees to the plan, but the warden is murdered by Ah-Ping, a Chinese prisoner, before their scheme can be carried out. Sheriff Lopeman is appointed the new warden, and with Pitman's help, conditions in the prison improve greatly. When Lopeman invites the governor for a tour of the prison, Pitman decides to escape. He allows three of the prisoners to be killed, and he himself kills Ah-Ping and Floyd Moon, a dim-witted gunfighter, before he makes good his escape. Lopeman, who had trusted Pitman, angrily takes pursuit. At the snakepit, Pitman unearths the money, but one of the rattlesnakes bites him on the throat and kills him. Lopeman then arrives and, following Pitman's ethics, takes the $500,000 and sets out for Mexico.