Because of reports of a potential range war in Peñasco County, U.S. Commissioner Guilford dispatches Deputy U.S. Marshal Ed Church to the area. After arriving in Agua Verde by stagecoach and renting a horse to ride to the troubled area, Church disappears. At the same time, Mike Sternes, foreman of Frank Bishop's Crescent B cattle ranch, is in town to meet Frank's daughter, Cathy, who was traveling on the same stagecoach as Church. Also in town is Pete Dallam, leader of the small ranchers in Peñasco County who want to run sheep in what has always been cattle country. Mike Sternes and Pete Dallam are found dead outside town the next day, apparently the result of a shoot-out between them. Commissioner Guilford knows that young Streak Mathiot, Ed Church's best friend, is presently in the Pleasant City jail. Guilford visits Streak in jail and offers him a job as a deputy U.S. Marshal to investigate Ed Church's disappearance. When Streak accepts the assignment, Guilford tells the Pleasant City sheriff that he has a federal warrant for Streak, which takes precedence over any local charges against him. That fabrication is sufficient to get Streak released into Guilford's custody and places him right in the middle of a fight that has already turned violent.