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.
The simple story has the pair coming to the rescue of peace-loving Mormons when land-hungry Major Harriman sends his bullies to harass them into giving up their fertile valley. Trinity and Bambino manage to save the Mormons and send the bad guys packing with slapstick humor instead of excessive violence, saving the day.
Having quit their old gang and gone straight, Bert Allen and Joe Kemp finally own their own ranch after three years, but Joe robs the Riverton bank of the Green River Dam payroll - using Bert's horse, gun and gloves and leaving behind Bert's hat.
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.
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.
Jim Killian arrives in a small Arizona town hoping to establish a peaceful life as the local preacher, but he soon finds himself in the middle of a feud between sheep ranchers and cattlemen. Leloopa, a young Native American woman, pleads for Killian's help after her shepherd father is hung by Coke Beck, the vicious son of the head cattle rancher. Killian must weigh his actions carefully lest he perpetuate the cycle of retribution and revenge.
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.
Banker Mason is after the ranchers land so he can resell it to the railroad for a profit. He has the railroad agent killed and replaces him with his stooge who then offers even less than Mason. But Rocky eventually suspects Mason and when Bill Anderson informs him the agent is a fake, they head out after Mason
Gene goes after the badguys after they kidnap the baby he should have been babysitting.
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.
The brother (House Peters Jr.) of rancher Bill Martin (Bill Elliott) is killed in a stampede started by cattleman. Bill returns to the Fargo country to take his brother's place and is welcomed by law-abiding cattleman MacKenzie (Jack Ingram)) and his daughter Kathy (Phyllis Coates). The leader of the ruthless cattle interests are townsman Austin (Arthur Space) and his henchmen Red (Myron Healey), Link (Robert J. Wilke) and Albord (Terry Frost). Bill has the idea of putting up barbed wire to keep the herds from been driven over the land cultivated by the farmers. He, aided by Tad Sloan (Fuzzy Knight), produces the wire by make-shift methods, but it proves effective. The cattleman charge in court that the wire is dangerous to their herds but lose the case. Austin orders his men to seize Bill, bale him in strands of the wire, and throw him on the stage of the town hall during a fall festival. Bill doesn't take kindly to this and it precipitates open war.
Renegades trying to get the army to abandon their fort get the Indians addicted to whiskey, then convince them to attack and drive out the soldiers.
An ex-con returns to his rural Ontario roots and outwits a corrupt and wealthy thoroughbred owner trying to take over a slew of local farms. Ray Dokes, a charming ex-ballplayer, returns from jail to discover the rural landscape of his childhood transformed by urban development. Determined to stay out of trouble, Ray heads to the farm of his old friend Pete Culpepper, a crusty Texas cowboy who trains losing racehorses and whose debts are growing faster than his corn.
Dyer is buying ranches and then retrieving his check by having his gang kill the owner. Bob Worth arrives just as Buck Morton is killed and gets blamed for the murder. Fleeing from the Sheriff, Bob teams up with the Mexican outlaw Golinda. Having seen Dyer pay off his men, he has a plan to trap him and Golinda is just the man he needs to make it work.
A group of young gunmen, led by Billy the Kid, become deputies to avenge the murder of the rancher who became their benefactor. But when Billy takes their authority too far, they become the hunted.
A woman seeking revenge for her murdered father hires a famous gunman, but he's very different from what she expects.
Questions arise when Senator Stoddard (James Stewart) attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) in a small Western town. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved Stoddard, then a lawyer, when he was roughed up by a crew of outlaws terrorizing the town, led by Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). As the territory's safety hung in the balance, Doniphon and Stoddard, two of the only people standing up to him, proved to be very important, but different, foes to Valance.
In this musical short, Cliff Edwards and his cowhands run a struggling dude ranch. When a pretty girl arrives, Cliff believes she is an heiress.
Two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow.
Tim Hart (Tim McCoy), a former Texas Ranger, comes out of retirement to avenge the death of Lightnin' Ed (Frank LaRue), his foster father, who had been sent to Rainbow's End, to investigate a series of train robberies. He senses that George Johnson (Walter McGrail) and his henchman, Speck (Bob Kortman), head the robbery gang, especially after Speck makes an ambush attempt on his life.