A bitter Union soldier escapes from prison and seeks revenge against the man who put him there.

During the Civil War, "Macho" Callahan escapes from a Confederate Army prison camp by blowing up the prison gate and sets out to find Duffy, whom he believes was responsible for his enlistment and subsequent imprisonment. In a Texas town, Callahan quarrels over a bottle of champagne with Col. David Mountford, a one-armed former Confederate officer, and kills him while Mountford's bride, Alexandra, watches helplessly from a hotel window. Vowing to avenge her husband's death, Alexandra offers a reward of $1,000 to anyone who kills Callahan. Duffy, whom Alexandra had met while traveling, agrees to help her; but Callahan recognizes Duffy as the man he is seeking, kills him, and hangs him from a windmill. Alexandra pursues Callahan alone until gambling house proprietor "King Harry" Wheeler takes up her offer. Callahan escapes, however, and again Alexandra rides after him alone. She meets Callahan with his old friend Juan Fernandez, joins them and later fails in her attempt to kill Callahan. Instead, Callahan rapes her. Eventually, Alexandra comes to understand Callahan and falls in love with him. Meanwhile, Wheeler, who has formed a group of bounty hunters to track Callahan, overtakes Callahan, Fernandez, and Alexandra and kills Fernandez. Despite Alexandra's pleas that Callahan's life be spared, one of the bounty hunters kills Callahan, and Alexandra is again left alone to grieve.