Lucas McCain gives blood to save a dying man and is surprised by Marshall Torrance's odd behavior towards him. Soon, men arrive from a nearby town and demand custody of the man.
A drought has forced local cowhands to seek work on a railroad construction project, but executives are afraid workers will desert them if they believe an old man's claim of making rain.
When his employer begins to suspect him of embezzlement, bookkeeper Asa Manning decides to hire a professional gunman to take care of the problem.
The McCains try to be tolerant of their embittered neighbor Abel MacDonald, but they decide he's gone too far when he won't allow his injured boy to get medical treatment.
Lucas takes in an orphaned teen being raised by his abusive uncle after there is trouble at the school.
Young Mark manages to capture a hawk but falls into danger with a rattlesnake. A stranger comes to his rescue and Mark invites the man home, unaware that he is on the run from the law.
Lucas comes to the rescue when escaped convicts hold up the general store in North Fork and take Marshall Torrance hostage.
Dan Maury, released from Yuma prison, arrives in North Fork intent on getting even with Marshal Torrance, who helped send him to jail.
Lucas welcomes his old friend Tom Birch, who once saved his life, unaware that the man is now a bank robber on the run with his gang.
Outlaw Sam Morley falls in love with a young woman who has a serious illness and asks Lucas to turn him in for the reward and use the money to pay for her medical care.
Lucas puts his life in jeopardy when he agrees to testify in a murder case where the first witness was killed before he could testify, and the killer is still at large.
Sid Fallon tries to blackmail former gambler Julia Andueza into allowing him to use her boarding house as a gambling hall and saloon.
A new bank opens and Banker Hamilton hires a slow-witted gunman to guard the safe. When some of the gunman's old outlaw friends arrive in town they propose he join them in robbing the bank.
A handsome Italian count arrives in North Fork. The town bully ridicules his manner of speech and dress and provokes the Count to challenge him to a duel.
A vengeful judge who believes Lucas was responsible for his son's death, kidnaps Mark McCain to revenge himself on Lucas.
Johnny Gibbs, Lucas McCain's brother-in-law, visits the McCain ranch. Gibbs, a rodeo rider wanted by the law, begins stirring up trouble.
When Mark gets caught on a mountain ledge, a young outlaw risks his life to rescue him and breaks his leg doing so.
Cattle baron Oat Jackford orders his two cowboys to run Lucas McCain and his son off their ranch.
Lucas and Mark decide to enter a local turkey shoot to raise money to buy a ranch.
A Chinese man and his son fight prejudice as they try to open a laundry in North Fork.