The harsh winter stock kill-off of 1878-79 forces many ranchers to lay off cowhands. Walsh Patrick is one of them and drifts south from Montana looking for work. He hears the Circle C ranch may be hiring in Henry Valley and takes a shortcut through Dry Bone Gulch. Walsh's horse is shot out from under him while riding through the gulch. In a scuffle that follows, Walsh kills his unknown assailant who had mistaken him for someone else. He takes the body to the nearest town, Henryville only to find out he had killed the biggest rancher in the area, Randal Crawley who owns the Circle C. Why did Crawley ambush Walsh? Who was the intended victim? And what happens when the rancher's vengeful widow doesn't believe Walsh's story and unleashes her ranch hands and hires gunmen to track down Walsh?