In early 20th-century Montana, Col. William Ludlow lives on a ranch in the wilderness with his sons, Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel. Eventually, the unconventional but close-knit family are bound by loyalty, tested by war, and torn apart by love, as told over the course of several decades in this epic saga.
Jim "Tex" Wall, searching for the last of the three men who raped and killed his wife, joins a gang of cattle rustlers led by Hank Hays. Both Hays' outlaws and a rival gang headed by Heesman, have been hired as ranch hands by "Bull" Herrick, a cripple who owns a large cattle ranch and wants to get his large herd to market. He theorizes that the two gangs will be kept busy watching each other and neither will rustle his cattle. Helen has little faith in her brother's contrived plan, and hates and distrusts both groups. She begins to soften toward Jim, but abruptly changes when she sees a reward poster which says he has killed two men.
Three of the original five "young guns" — Billy the Kid, Jose Chavez y Chavez, and Doc Scurlock — return in Young Guns, Part 2, which is the story of Billy the Kid and his race to safety in Old Mexico while being trailed by a group of government agents led by Pat Garrett.
Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the local people of Mexican descent. Rink discovers oil on a small plot of land, and while he uses his vast, new wealth to buy all the land surrounding the Benedict ranch, the Benedict's disagreement over prejudice fuels conflict that runs across generations.
United States-Canadian border 1891: Twenty-three nuns and seven priests are found dead at a burned down monastery. U.S. Marshall William James Richford and Mounted Policeman Richard Custer need to work together to find one of the most ruthless gangs of their time.
Isaac LeMay, a murderous outlaw, learns he is cursed by a prophecy: one of his children will kill him. To prevent this, he hunts down each of his estranged children, including long-lost son Cal. With bounty hunters and Sheriff Solomon on his tail, LeMay must find a way to stop his children and end the curse.
A renowned former army scout is hired by ranchers to hunt down rustlers but finds himself on trial for the murder of a boy when he carries out his job too well. Tom Horn finds that the simple skills he knows are of no help in dealing with the ambitions of ranchers and corrupt officials as progress marches over him and the old west.
After serving a five year prison sentence for allowing his men to destroy a town in a drunken spree, a trail boss is hired by the same town's leading citizen to drive their cattle to Fort Clemson. Complicating matters, a rival cattle baron also hires the cattle driver to lead his herd.
Bank robber Graham Dorsey spends a few hours with beautiful widow Amanda Starbuck, in which time his gang takes part in a disastrous holdup. Learning of his comrades' demise, Dorsey goes on the lam. Believing her short-term lover was killed by the law, Amanda decides to make the most of having had a liaison with the supposedly deceased desperado by writing a book about him. Much to his confusion, the still-living Dorsey watches as his name becomes legendary.
Stodge City is in the grip of the Rumpo Kid and his gang. Mistaken identity again takes a hand as a 'sanitary engineer' named Marshal P. Knutt is mistaken for a law marshal. Being the conscientious sort, Marshal tries to help the town get rid of Rumpo, and a showdown is inevitable. Marshal has two aids—revenge-seeking Annie Oakley and his sanitary expertise.
A gunslinger returns to his hometown to warn of an impending outlaw gang attack, but he's met with hatred and fear for his previous killings.
Two cowboys try to protect railroad workers from rampaging Indians.
Night riders are terrorizing homesteaders, and the town doctor tries to keep the locals from forming a vigilante group. After more towns people are killed, however, the rest of the town makes the doctor the town sheriff and tells him to clean up the gang.
Rancher Reynolds has fired his men and hired killers and is now using a crooked land deal to put the other ranchers off their land. Calico finds the reason why when he runs into his old nemesis Porter.
When Colt kills the men that murdered his father, he escapes his pursuers and joins Wolf and his outlaw gang. After two years Wolf breaks up the gang, deeds his ranch to Colt, and turns himself in. Now an honest rancher, things are going fine for Colt until Wolf's old gang shows up under a new leader. Colt get the Governor to release Wolf claiming the two of them can bring in the gang.
Marshall "Big Jim" Cole turns in his badge and heads to Wyoming with his family in order to settle on some land left him by a relative. He faces opposition both from a neighbor who wants that land for his own sons, and from a grizzly bear nicknamed "Satan" who keeps killing Cole's livestock.
Montana Rivers finally escapes her father who had forced her to wear men's clothing and help in robbing and cheating. She is taken in by friendly Indians and stays at their camp. Later, Akkomi, chief of the tribe, asks his friend Dan Overton to take the girl as it is not good for her to remain in the camp. Dan provides for "Tana" and falls in love with her but, because of her past, she keeps him at a distance. Jim Harris comes by and recognizes Tana as the boy robber, but when he attempts to blacken her past, Dan gives him a beating which paralyzes him. Jim then stays on with Dan, who regrets his hastiness. Eventually Tana's father appears and demands that Tana go away with him. She refuses but also does not tell Dan of this trouble.
Before the U.S. Civil War rebel leader Luke Darcy sees himself as leader of a new independent Republic of Kansas but the military governor sends an ex-raider to capture Darcy.
Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Harrah. Together with a fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.
Calamity Jane is a tough and rowdy woman in the old West who owns a saloon and gambling joint (and runs a cattle rustling operation as a sideline). One day she hires a pretty but naive young woman to work as a saloon girl, and finds that the girl is bringing out the maternal instincts she never knew she had. Those instincts are put to the test when a US army cavalry troop arrives to clean up the town and the girl and the young lieutenant in charge of the troop fall in love, and Calamity Jane may know something about the lieutenant that the girl doesn't.