Sheriff Tom Logan has to follow the order of the judge and hang Old Man Barton for murder. Barton, an old frontiersman in Winchester Junction, had shot a man he claimed was a horse thief, but the alleged thief was the son of a rich and powerful rancher and the bullet that killed him was in the back. The sheriff, the jurors and townsmen are troubled by the execution, especially when a man, highly capable with his fists and gun, appears in town determined to prove that Old Barton was innocent of the crime for which he was hanged and intends to settle the score.