In the lawless Oregon country of 1842, local magnate Gerald Montgomery decrees that any unattached woman belongs to the first taker. Dan Kirby is lynched, starting a stampede to claim his half-Indian wife Paca. Trouble starts with the local tribe, but worse is in store when Dan's tough brother Tex rides in. The zeal of Montgomery's men to protect him from Tex is tempered by their lust for Hannah, who'd be his widow.