Journeying from Mexico back home to West Texas, mercenary Tom Buchanan takes a break for the night in the border town of Agry. He soon discovers that almost every resident -- from the crooked sheriff to the shifty-eyed innkeeper -- is a member of the prominent Agry family. When Buchanan defends Juan de la Vega, a young man about to be lynched for shooting the town drunk, he himself is accused of murder and must struggle to escape town alive.
On several occasions, the same three men seem to disappear just after a robbery occurs, and Hopalong Cassidy sets out to prove another man is behind the series of robberies.
Major Matt Stewart (Randolph Scott) leads a troop of Confederate soldiers on a raid, targeting a wagon that is transporting Union gold. All the Union soldiers are killed except for one, who informs Stewart that the war had already ended a month ago. Stewart leads the troop into hiding, knowing they could face murder charges. After capturing a coach driven by nurse Molly Hull (Donna Reed), the soldiers try to evade a group of bandits chasing them to steal the gold.
Lucas is the town's representative to the railroad commission until an infamous train robber dies and leaves his ill-gotten wealth to Lucas; Lucas must clear his name and stop the reckless ambition of his replacement.
Bat takes control of a mining claim after winning a lottery and ventures out to locate it, running afoul of a giant who attacks him and throws him in the Trinity River.
Bat becomes the special prosecutor in the trial of a local thug, determined to conduct a fair trial despite the thug's boss, Sam Shanks, insisting upon a not-guilty verdict.
Silver miner Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) leads a hardscrabble life with his son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier). When he hears about oil oozing from the ground near the Western town of Little Boston, Daniel takes his son on a mission to find their fortune. Daniel makes his lucky strike and becomes a self-made tycoon but, as his fortune grows, he deviates into moral bankruptcy.