In a sudden move to protect his own life, Jim Hardie has to wound — mortally — a young hellion of the town who has participated in a Wells Fargo stage holdup. Hellion or no, the youth is well-liked and his mother is influential and wealthy. Jim comes under some odium for the shooting and in the town there’s talk of lynching him. When the boy dies, his mother’s foreman comes to kill Jim with his bare hands. They struggle, Jim knocks his assailant out, but finds himself ‘roped’ by the townspeople who have found the courage to hang him then and there.