Leo Guild didn't figure on running into his former wife Sarah again. Years earlier she'd left him for a gunfighter named Frank Evans. Guild is putting up in a river town, and hears Sarah is staying in a local hotel—she's been looking for him. Leo's heart soars, until she tells him that Frank Evans has left her for a younger woman, Beth. Unfortunately for Frank, Beth's former lover is also a gunfighter who has sworn to kill Evans.

Sarah has forgiven Frank, and she wants Guild to broker a peace between the gunfighters so Frank can return to her, unharmed.

At the same time, a rich man named Adair has caught wind of the conflict and he invites both gunfighters to his ranch for a birthday celebration—their gunfight will be the main attraction for the guests who are arriving from all over the country. The winner will get $10,000 and Beth, the loser...

Guild reluctantly gets pulled into trying to stop the fight—but matters of the heart are never resolved simply and Guild has a foreboding sense that a tragic ending will be unavoidable.