Returning to Pecos, New Mexico, at the end of the Civil War, Confederate veteran Matt Weaver discovers his property appropriated and sold by banker Brewster; his former fiancée, Ruth, married to a one-armed Union soldier; and his neighbors, Yankee sympathizers, aligned against him. After Weaver shoots in self defense the new owner of his farm, Brewster hires the notorious Jules Gaspard d'Estaing to eliminate him. The gunman, an enigmatic educated mulatto, proves uncontrollable, and Brewster attempts to hire Weaver to slay d'Estaing. In the ensuing confrontation, the gunman provokes Weaver, who then slays both d'Estaing and Brewster.