In 1881 Arizona, experienced scout Sam Varner witnesses the US Army rounding up escaped Apaches, including white captive Sarah Carver and her nine-year-old son. Varner agrees to accompany them as an escort to a distant railroad depot, but the father, a brutal and renegade tribesman, sets out on their trail and wants his son back. The noose tightens around Carver and his protégés...