A pacifist sheriff must use tougher means when his town is threatened by a band of outlaws.

Five freebooting adventurers from the Missouri range wars--Larkin, Earl, Drew, Norman, and Willard--enter the frontier town of Firecreek and decide to remain there until Larkin recovers from a wound. Fearing trouble, the local parttime sheriff, Johnny Cobb, leaves his nearby farm and his pregnant wife, Henrietta, to spend the night in town. While Larkin is recuperating at a boardinghouse run by Mr. Pittman, he considers the arguments against lawlessness voiced by the old man's granddaughter, Evelyn. Larkin's men, however, continue to terrorize the town and disrupt church services held by itinerant Preacher Broyles. The townspeople plead with Cobb to drive the gang out of town, but instead he tries to reason with them. His efforts prove to be futile when Arthur, a simpleminded stableboy, attempts to prevent Drew from raping an unwed Indian mother, Meli, and accidentally kills the gunman. Although Cobb jails Arthur for the boy's protection before returning to his farm to look after his wife during her labor, the gang members force the townsfolk to attend a wake for Drew and then coldbloodedly hang Arthur. Aware that Larkin and his men stayed in Firecreek because it was a town of self-defeated men who would not compete, Cobb at long last decides to stand up to the lawbreakers. Taking his gun, he kills Earl, Norman, and Willard but is, in turn, wounded by Larkin. Refusing to concede defeat, Cobb reaches for the gun which was shot out of his hand by Larkin. He is saved from certain death by Evelyn, who kills Larkin with a rifle shot.