The cattlemen believed in free graze for their herds and that meant that others, like the sheep ranchers, must be forced to leave the territory. When the sheep ranchers refused, night riders shot and killed a sheep rancher and a shepherd, as proof that the edict to leave was serious. Uriah Gorman -- an old Confederate soldier -- refused to be intimidated. With a goal of justice for the sheep ranchers, Gorman becomes their leader. His strategy is to hit the cattle ranchers harder than they have attacked the sheepmen. When three cowboys are ambushed, the cattlemen appeal to local law enforcement, men who are cattle raisers and basically sympathetic and even enlist a deputy U.S. marshal out of Denver. Gorman strikes again with his band, invading the ranch of one of the leaders of the cattlemen and executing him in front of his family. As far as Gorman is concerned, it is now justice or all-out war.