Set in 1890 s Montana, a conflict between the widowed Maggie Carter and cattle baron Cyrus McCall escalates into a range war when McCall threatens her survival as a rancher by putting up a barbed-wire fence.
An elderly man returns to his abandoned hometown of Singletree, Montana and recalls the town's silver jubilee celebration of thirty years ago involving the Carter and McCall families.
Cattle rustlers continue to steal livestock from the town's ranches. Cyrus McCall puts up barbed wire fences. Ned Carter confronts his mother Maggie about her past. Outlaw Caleb Bateman arrives in town.
Cyrus McCall struggles to recover from his wounds from the gunfight. A confrontation between lifelong friends Ned Carter and Cy McCall ends in a tragedy. The rift between the two families deepens.
