John Ford directs this US Western starring James Stewart as a marshal of a small town in the 1880s. Marshal Guthrie McCabe (Stewart) doesn't do much to earn his badge preferring to take money for illicit dealings. That changes when he is persuaded by First Lt. Jim Gary (Richard Widmark) to rescue a group of white people who were kidnapped by the Comanche Indians. However, when they do finally rescue two of the prisoners and bring them back to the town it seems they are less than welcome.