Shortly after a band of Sioux Indians have slaughtered a detachment of the U. S. Cavalry, a stagecoach passes through the area of the massacre. The occupants of the stagecoach are: Dallas, a dancehall girl being run out of town; Doc Boone, an alcoholic medic; Mr. Peacock, a liquor salesman who dresses like a preacher; Lucy Mallory, a pregnant Army wife en route to join her husband in Cheyenne; Hatfield, a hardened gambler who served in the Civil War under Mrs. Mallory's father; and Henry Gatewood, a banker absconding with $10,000 of his father-in-law's money. Riding atop alongside the jittery driver, Buck, is Marshal Curly. The coach is stopped by the Ringo Kid, an outlaw tracking down the Plummer family, who killed his father and brother. The marshal takes away Ringo's rifle and orders him into the coach. During the long journey Doc Boone and Peacock become fast friends, Ringo romances the fiery Dallas, Hatfield comforts Mrs. Mallory as her labor begins, and the nervous Gatewood endlessly complains about time being wasted. At Horseshoe Bend, Mrs. Mallory, attended by Doc and Dallas, gives birth to her baby. Gatewood makes an unsuccessful attempt to steal one of the stage horses, and Ringo tries to escape from the marshal. Once the coach is again under way, Apaches attack. In the furious battle that follows, Hatfield is killed before the Indians are finally driven off. When the battered coach reaches Cheyenne, the marshal handcuffs Ringo to a wheel to prevent him from going after the Plummer family. The marshal learns about Gatewood's crime from the local stage agent. He enters the saloon to arrest Gatewood and is wounded by the Plummer boys. Luke Plummer, the boys' father, kills Gatewood for the $10,000; and Ringo is set free. In the final shoot-out, Ringo guns down his three enemies as a fire breaks out in the saloon. The marshal forfeits the reward for Ringo's capture and allows the outlaw to ride off with Dallas during the confusion caused by the fire.