Upon his arrival in Cottonwood, Arizona, Chris Colt wants to show off his new guns but a young missionary confronts and berates him for being a violent man.
A man Colt is trying to capture is shot down in a saloon after he shoots a young man. Three men try to claim the reward. Colt pretends to be a friend of the dead man but another man recognizes him.
Colt captures the Comanche Kid in Granite Gap and the townspeople are determined to hang him. All but an elderly woman who believes the Kid is her long-lost son.
Undercover government agent Chris Colt is wounded during a train robbery. A woman passenger uses a piece of needlework to patch up his bullet-torn jacket and this piece of fabric provides a valuable clue later on.
Gunfighter Frank Wilson arrives in the town his son is living in. He is challenged to a gunfight at the bar, reluctantly kills the challenger and then collapses. The doctor says it's only a matter of time before Wilson dies. His son, Frank Wilson, Jr., is using an alias as he is ashamed of his father's reputation. Colt tells Frank Jr. of his father's condition and he visits his father just before he dies. His father bequeaths him his golden gun and a map as to where he hid $50,000 in stolen money. Frank, Jr. is challenged to a gunfight, wins and decides to leave town with his girlfriend. She will not leave if he keeps the $50,000. He enlists Colt's aid to find the money and turns it in to the Marshal, asking him to spread the story that Frank Wilson, Jr. is dead.