Cowhand Brad Collins forsakes his footloose life to try his luck in the uranium boom in Colorado. When Brad arrives in the rough-and-tumble boom town known as Uraniumtown, he discovers that newcomer Grady Mathews has rented the last available room in the local hotel. Brad challenges Grady to a fistfight, the winner of which will be awarded occupancy of the room. After making a shambles of the hotel lobby, they call the fight a draw and decide to share the room. Grady, who has been trained as a mining engineer, and Brad, who has extensive knowledge of the territory, soon realize that their talents complement each other and agree to become partners in their quest for uranium. While buying their equipment one day, Brad confides that he hopes to make a fortune to pursue a life of adventure, while Grady confides that he is in love with a girl in Denver whom he plans to marry once he strikes it rich. When their jeep is loaded with supplies, the two men drive into the Colorado wilderness. On a dusty back road, they encounter Navajo Charlie, an Indian who claims he can lead them to the yellow outcropping of uranium described by his late father. Although Brad and Grady discount the Indian’s story of the yellow rock, they hire him as their guide. After several weeks of futile prospecting, the partners finally decide to take a chance on Charlie’s yellow rock. The Indian leads them to a large outcropping of yellow carnonite, a mineral that contains a high concentration of uranium. As Brad and Grady are laying out their claim, two claim-jumping brothers, Phil and Chuck McGinnus, appear, and at gunpoint, sabotage their jeep. When the brothers leap into their truck and drive off to beat Brad and Grady to the government claim office in Uraniumtown, Charlie tells Brad and Grady that he drained the water from the truck’s radiator. After repairing the jeep, Brad leaves Grady behind to organize the mining operation while he speeds off, passing the brothers’ overheated jeep on the road. Once Brad files his claim, he runs into Jean Williams, who is visiting from Denver. Unaware that Jean is Grady’s fiancée, Brad marries her. Upon returning to the mine with his bride, Brad learns the truth when a furious Grady denounces him, then bitterly leaves the mine for Brad to run, even though he still retains half-ownership. While Grady is away, Brad becomes power-hungry and tries to displace the under-financed prospectors by taking over their claims when they are unable to pay the annual improvement obligations demanded by mining law. To win Jean back and wreak revenge on his partner, Grady determines to destroy Brad. To accomplish this, he decides to prove is love to Jean by giving her his half-share of the mine. Next, Grady sets up a ruse with confidence man Floyd Gorman and his sexy accomplice, Gail Windsor, to trick Brad into thinking that a new spur railroad is coming into the area. Believing their story, Brad heavily mortgages his interests to buy new claims near the proposed rail line. When Grady informs Brad that there is no railroad, Brad realizes he has been ruined. When the angry prospectors who lost their claims to Brad try to sabotage his mine, Brad placates them by giving back their claims. Grady finally realizes that Jean will always love Brad, and now that he and Brad are both broke, they decide to renew their partnership and try again.