In post-Civil War Texas, the defeated Confederate soldiers returning home have a difficult time handling the justice system of the corrupt provisional government, which seems to favor the boisterous Yankee carpetbaggers at every turn. While initially hesitant to exchange blows with the Northerners, Capt. Colt Saunders, a hero in the Confederate cavalry, takes on all comers when a Southern belle named Lorna Hunter is insulted. After the outnumbered Colt is knocked unconscious by the uncouth Yankees, Lorna pretends to be his wife, in order to steal his wallet, which contains $900 in gold. Seeking to hide the money in the safe of her old friend, saloon owner Ruby LaSalle, Lorna is told that Colt is a wealthy rancher, so she instead asks that the money be deposited in his name. Her plan works, as the veteran quickly becomes enamored of the "honest" young woman. Lorna, however, tells him that she is an emancipated woman, looking for a proper husband and has determined that he is inappropriate, due to his rough demeanor. As hoped, Colt immediately proposes and the two are quickly married. Rudy warns her old friend that the marriage is doomed, as Lorna's shady past will forever cloud it. Upon arriving at his family's ranch, the Bar S, Colt and Lorna are warmly greeted by his oldest friend, Innocencio, the Mexican-American foreman who has cared for the place in Colt's absence. The next day, Innocencio tells Colt that few of the ranch's cattle or horses remain, as most have been taken by the carpetbaggers. Colt's bad news continues, when he learns that his prodigal brother Beauregard, better known as Cinch, has also returned home. Though disinherited by his grandfather, Cinch is offered a share in the ranch by Colt, who stills feels guilty about a childhood accident in which his younger brother lost his right arm. The bad news culminates when Harrison, the crooked district commissioner, informs Colt that the tax currently due on the Bar S ranch is an astronomical $16,000. While Colt and the surviving Texas ranchers vote to fight the corrupt provisional government, Cinch argues that the Saunders family should abandon the Bar S and instead, they should sell their secret herd of 300 horses to the U.S. Cavalry, then head west and start new lives. Offered the deciding vote, Lorna sides with her husband. Meanwhile, Cable, the murderous deputy commissioner, learns of Lorna's sordid past from Massey, the commission's cowardly secretary, who knew Lorna during her dance hall days in St. Louis. Cable tries to goad Colt into a gunfight over his wife's honor, but Lorna foils his plan by admitting her wicked past. The disheartened Colt then asks Lorna to leave on the next available stage. Later, upon returning from a roundup, Colt discovers that Cinch and Lorna have absconded with the horses and is informed that Lorna is pregnant with his child. After retaking his herd and his wife, Colt tells Lorna that he is willing to sell the horses, giving her all proceeds, if she agrees to leave him their child after it is born. That winter, Lorna delivers a healthy boy, and when Colt refuses to toast his son's birth, Innocencio, disgusted with his old friend's pride, announces that he too is leaving the Bar S. Lorna then surprises Colt by announcing that she is leaving him the horses, so that their son can inherit the Bar S. Meanwhile, in a last-ditch effort to steal the Saunders ranch, Harrison agrees to go into a partnership with Cinch, who then rides onto the family ranch and challenges his brother to a duel. Colt refuses to draw, however, and despite his threats, Cinch is unable to kill his brother in cold blood. The double-crossing Harrison and his men then arrive, and in the ensuing gunfight, Cinch, Cable and Massey are killed. As the cowardly Harrison and the rest of his men retreat, the ranch is saved, and Colt and Lorna are reunited.