In 1867, in Laramie, Wyoming Territory, Wells Fargo agent Webb Yancey coerces gambler James Wylie to search for an outlaw known as "the Poet," who has been robbing Wells Fargo shipments. In return for Jim's capture of the Poet, Yancey promises that Nevada criminal charges currently facing Jim will be dropped, and he will earn a reward. On the way to Cheyenne, where it is rumored that the Poet is forming a gang, Jim shares the stagecoach with Emily Carson and Ann Kincaid. Before they reach Cheyenne, the stage is attacked by the Sundance Kid and his gang, who are furious to discover an empty strongbox containing only a poem from the Poet. That evening at the saloon, where Emily is a singer, Jim spots some of the men in the gang and follows them to their hideout. There, Jim pretends to be the Poet. Sundance then discloses that Ann, the Poet's wife, is also at the hideout. Ann goes along with Jim's deception because, as she later explains, she wants to see the Poet captured as much as he does. Sundance is still skeptical of Jim's claims, however, and assigns some of his men to follow Ann and Jim. To convince the gang that he is really Ann's husband, Jim spends the night at Ann's, but sleeps on her couch. Unknown to Jim, Ann's husband is Ed Landers, a Wells Fargo employee. After Ann warns Landers that he is being followed, he promises to stop stealing and leave for San Francisco with her in three days. Using a ruse, Ann lures Jim to a nearby town, where they are followed by Sundance's men. When Sundance and his men try to rob a stage and again find a note from the Poet, Sundance grows suspicious of Jim, and in the ensuing gunfight, three of Sundance's gang are killed. Realizing that Ann has doublecrossed him, Jim returns to town and, not knowing Landers' true identity, reveals to him that he is working for Yancey. Jim then asks the sheriff to order the livery stable not to rent any horses, hoping this will force the Poet into the open. Learning that earlier a woman had purchased a mare from the stable, Jim watches the horse to see who now owns it. Meanwhile, Landers convinces the sheriff that Jim is really the Poet. When Ann again visits Landers, she smells Emily's distinctive perfume and rightly suspects that her husband is planning to leave town with Emily rather than with her. Ann discovers that Emily is leaving on the evening stage and buys a ticket, as does Jim, who has seen Landers on the mare. Jim shoots Landers when he attempts to hold up the stage. Subsequently, Yancey tells Jim that until he finds the stolen money, he is not entitled to the reward for the Poet's capture. Jim is about to despair, but before Ann leaves town, she throws two bags from the stage. When Jim investigates, he finds the missing money and then rides happily after Ann, with whom he has fallen in love.