Farmer and family man Johnny Cobb moonlights as a two dollar a month Sheriff with a homemade badge in the quiet little town of Firecreek. When a gang of freebooters passes through, their leader Larkin, who is suffering from a minor wound, agrees to spend the night. The gang members prove to be vicious, sadistic sociopaths who take advantage of the frightened townspeople, humiliating them for their own perverse amusement. Although Larkin disapproves of their behavior, his leadership role is tenuous, and he is reluctant to test it by exercising control over his men. The mild-mannered Cobb faces a series of challenges from the gang's antisocial behavior. Things come to a head when Meli, an Indian woman with a mixed race child, incurs an attempted sexual attack by one of gang. Arthur, a simpleton stable boy, comes to her aid and accidentally kills the attacker. Cobb locks up Arthur to keep him safe, but when the Sheriff leaves town to visit his wife, who is struggling in labor, there is no one to control the gang. Cobb decides the time has come to act.