Barney Dwyer was a powerful and good-natured young cowpuncher. Unfortunately, his hands were so strong that he broke almost every farm tool he touched. Finally his hot-tempered ranch-owning boss, Dan Peary, lost his patience and fired him, paying Barney off with a mustang so wild that even professional horsebreakers couldn't ride it.

Barney was told to collect the remaining few dollars of his wages from Peary's son, Len, who had joined a tough gang of gunslingers in the mountain town of Timberline. Almost from the first hour, Barney made enemies in Timberline. Soon, violent confrontations send Barney on a long bloody trail, pursued by a trigger-happy pack of enemies.