Chato’s Land

In a town bar, the half-Apache Chato is subjected to racial abuse by the sheriff. He shoots the sheriff in self-defense and rides out of town on his Paso Fino, beginning a fugitives' path.

Former Confederate Captain Whitmore sheds doubt and dons his uniform, assembling a posse of former Confederate soldiers and sympathizers. They vow to hunt Chato down and bring him to justice.

Chato fires on the advancing posse from a hilltop, drawing them into a grueling ascent. He descends the other side and scatters their horses, sowing chaos within their ranks.

During the escape, Chato kills a rattlesnake and wraps the rattles in its skin as a keepsake. The moment shows his resourcefulness and connection to the land.

As the pursuit continues, tensions split the posse, foreshadowing internal disagreements and potential betrayals. Loyalties waver under pressure and heat.

The posse comes across empty wickiups and gleefully burns them, displaying a reckless, destructive mood that further inflames tensions.

Chato returns home and greets his wife at their hogan, then gives his son the rattlesnake toy he fashioned earlier. The family moment contrasts with the looming threat.

The posse discovers his home and, led by Elias, Earl, Hall, and Lansing, brutally gang-rape Chato's wife and hogtie her naked outside the hogan to lure Chato into a trap. The attack shatters any sense of safety for the family.

Chato devises a plan with his full-Apache kinsman to rescue his wife, using a diversion to draw the posse away. The plan succeeds enough to free his wife, though the kinsman is wounded in the effort.

The kinsman is hanged upside down and burned alive by the posse. Whitmore, disgusted by the act, shoots the burning man in the head to end the spectacle.

Chato abandons European dress and dons moccasins and a loin cloth, embracing his native identity as he continues his pursuit of the posse.

He lures posse members into individual traps, starting with Earl Hooker who fixates on Chato's wife. The traps tighten as the pursuit narrows.

Finding Earl's dead body staked out in the desert intensifies paranoia within the posse. Elias kills one pursuer and chases another, but Chato eliminates both.

Jubal kills Whitmore when he objects, triggering Malechie and Logan to beat Jubal to death with rocks. The two ride on, their numbers dwindling and tensions running high.

Chato ambushes the remaining pursuers: he kills Malechie and allows Logan to flee deeper into Apache territory, watching impassively from his horse as the pursuit nears its end.