Boot Hill

A lone man named Cat attempts to ride out of town on one night in the Old West. He is ambushed by a large group of men and wounded, but he manages to lure them away. He hides in a wagon belonging to a traveling circus.

As the wagons are searched, Cat and Thomas shoot at the attackers, turning the tide in their favor. This skirmish ends with Joe, Thomas' partner, killed during the performance.

Thomas finds Cat and tends his wounds, revealing that he needs Cat as bait for a trap against their enemies. He explains the plan to lure the gang into a trap at the circus. Cat agrees and prepares to travel with him.

Cat arrives at Hutch's place; Hutch initially greets him with hostility. Cat explains that his friend Sharp needs help to stop mining boss Fisher and that the deed to his claim was won in a rigged poker game. Hutch reluctantly agrees to join, bringing along Baby Doll, a mute companion.

They locate the remnants of the circus and refit it for their cause, gathering the artists under their banner. The troupe quickly becomes part of their wider plan to fight the mining bosses. Baby Doll joins, and the group trains the new alliance.

In the mining town, a county commissioner arrives to review the mining claims. The miners are afraid to speak up, except for the McGavin family, who are besieged in their home. The Finch gang dynamites their home, and the McGavins are destroyed.

At night, a dwarf from the circus delivers a message to the commissioner in his room. The warning signals that danger is imminent and sets the plan in motion.

The next morning the circus arrives in the town and the commissioner convinces Fisher to invite everyone to the show. This sets up the stage for the miners and circus to speak through performance.

At the circus show, the troupe performs pantomimes about the miners' threat and the McGavin killings, dramatizing the danger to the town. The miners discover guns under their seats while Fisher's men find feathers, signaling conflicting loyalties.

The four protagonists—Cat, Hutch, Baby Doll, and Thomas—head out to confront the Finch gang in a climactic night battle. They receive unexpected help from the circus folk (dwarves and can-can dancers) and soon the miners join the fight as reinforcements. The gang is wiped out.

Fisher shoots Mami in the back during the chaos, and Cat confronts Fisher, offering him one last chance. Fisher lays down his gun, and Mami declares that this act makes him the real clown.

Cat and Hutch ride away together, leaving the town behind. Baby Doll, who has started speaking, stays with a can-can dancer at the circus, signaling a new direction for his life.