Chato (Charles Bronson) suffers the prejudice heaped upon a mestizo or Indian in the Southwest, but when he kills a sadistic sheriff, he becomes the object of a posse comprised of men with motives that have nothing to do with justice. Captain Quincy (Jack Palance) is reliving his Confederate glory days and Joshua Everette (James Whitmore) is no better than Buell (Richard Basehart), a couple of hard drinking fops. Quincy can barely control the psychotic Hooker brothers (Simon Oakland, Ralph Waite, and Richard Jordan); each of whom is worse than the other. Chato leads the posse deeper into Apache country where their weaknesses are highlighted, and they become victims of the harsh country and the wily nature of Chato who exacts revenge on the posse that rape his girlfriend and kill his brother during their chase.