In 1898, cowboy Ross McEwen impulsively robs a bank and flees across the arid New Mexico Territory. As famed lawman Pat Garrett and his ambitious young deputy close in, Ross takes refuge at a remote Mexican homestead stricken by diphtheria. There he faces a desperate choice — leave the family to die and escape to Mexico, or stay and nurse them back to health, and go to jail. Ross must decide what kind of man he wants to be.