Rooster Cogburn

Judge Parker strips aging U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn of his badge because of drunkenness and questionable use of firearms. He is given a one-time chance to redeem himself by recovering a stolen nitroglycerin shipment and bringing Hawk's gang to justice.

A shipment of highly explosive nitroglycerin is stolen from a transporting cavalry unit by Hawk and his nine outlaws. Cogburn is assigned to trail the gang and recover the explosives, despite his reduced status.

Alone, Cogburn enters Indian Territory and begins tracking Hawk's gang. He makes for the remote Fort Ruby, a former settlement turned Christian mission, where the bandits are headed.

Cogburn arrives to Fort Ruby the day after the raid, finding the village overrun and Reverend George Goodnight dead. Most locals have fled, leaving only Reverend's spinster daughter Eula Goodnight and her Native student Wolf alive.

Cogburn tries to leave Eula and Wolf at a trading post, but they insist on joining the pursuit. They vow to help capture Hawk's gang and survive the dangerous trek.

The trio corners the gang and barricades the path through a gully with logs. Eula kills an outlaw from across the gully while Cogburn shoots another, spooking the rest and forcing them to abandon the nitro wagon and Gatling gun.

Cogburn takes Hawk back to the ambush site, where Breed reveals that Cogburn lied about leading a large posse. Hawk grows suspicious, and Breed’s honesty plants seeds of doubt that complicate the pursuit.

The gang pursues and kidnaps Wolf while he is on watch, but Wolf shoots the kidnapper and makes it back to Cogburn and Eula. The trio escapes with the nitro wagon, continuing the chase.

Cogburn commandeers a ferry raft from Shanghai McCoy, stashes the nitro and Gatling gun on board, and heads downstream toward safety with Eula and Wolf. They hope to reach a safe point before Hawk’s gang can close in.

Breed and Luke trail the raft; Luke plans to shoot Cogburn, but Breed kills Luke to settle old scores. He warns Cogburn about Hawk's plan, then rejoins the gang, while Hawk dismisses the warning as lies.

Past the narrows and rapids, Cogburn holds Hawk's gang at bay with the Gatling gun, but the gun is lost as the raft navigates the perilous waters. Eula and Wolf delay Hawk by pretending surrender, and Cogburn detonates floating nitro to blow up the last of the outlaws.

Back in Fort Smith, Eula convinces Judge Parker to reinstate Cogburn despite the prior order to bring Hawks back alive. She and Wolf secure new families to resettle Fort Ruby and part ways with Cogburn, hoping for a future crossing.