Stage to Tucson

Two months before Lincoln's inauguration, Butterfield visits Washington, D.C., to press the president about the loss of ten Butterfield stagecoaches along the Apache Pass–Tucson route. Lincoln wants to ensure the gold shipments keep flowing to finance any possible conflict with the southern states, but he cannot offer material assistance. The meeting underscores the political pressure surrounding the Butterfield operation as war looms.

A stage is stopped by a posse led by Sheriff Winters, who is pursuing Holbrook on a theft warrant. Grif Holbrook, who had jumped from the stage, turns the tables but ultimately surrenders when he recognizes Winters. Winters escorts Holbrook to Butterfield, using the encounter to press Grif into cooperating to stop the stage thefts.

Butterfield uses the Holbrook warrant as a ruse to reach Grif and press him into helping halt the coach thefts. Grif refuses to take over Butterfield's business and reiterates plans to head to California to retire. The exchange deepens the friction between Butterfield and Grif while the thefts continue.

Grif agrees to take over the Tucson office, and the stage stops at a post where Kate Crocker is to be relieved of her position by a fellow passenger. Kate is upset at losing her job, but Grif suggests she can handle the books at the Tucson office, which she accepts. The arrangement begins Grif's uneasy partnership with the Butterfield operation.

On the road toward their base at Maroon Ranch, Ira Prentiss and his men in a black steel coach ambush the party. One man is to take the stage near Tucson while the others take Grif back to their base. Grif escapes by shooting the driver, Sam, a former Butterfield employee, provoking Jim Maroon to fury when he learns Grif survived.

Grif reaches the Tucson Butterfield office and is greeted by Kate with a kiss. A fight with Barney Broderick over Kate's affections ends when Grif reveals his identity, and Barney accepts a role as Grif's assistant in the office. The three-way dynamic reshapes the office's internal politics.

At Annie Benson's hotel, Sam's leg wound worsens into gangrene. Doc Banteen arrives and says the leg will have to come off, escalating the tension. Sam tries to shoot Grif, and Doc later announces that Sam is dead, casting blame toward Grif for the tragedy.

Downstairs Grif meets Prentiss and recovers the stolen money. Prentiss leaves before naming the gang's leader, causing Grif to suspect Jim Maroon is behind the thefts. The ongoing conspiracy tightens as Grif resolves to confront Maroon.

Grif and Barney investigate another stage theft and are ambushed by Maroon's men, but they manage to escape. Their personal tensions intensify as Kate's loyalties are tested and Grif questions Kate's feelings for him.

Grif triggers the local militia's cannon, trying to summon the townspeople to counter the gang's activity. He holds a list of militia members and warns that those who don't show up may be aligned with Maroon. A soldier arrives with news that war has been declared.

Barney traces Gus Hayden to Maroon Farm and discovers Doc Banteen in league with Maroon. He is captured, and Annie reveals she is married to Maroon and had left Grif when she believed him dead. The revelation adds a personal twist to the town's conflict.

Maroon plans to send the stolen coaches back East, with Barney among the drivers. Grif and the pursuing posse close in, chasing the train toward Tucson as the conflict escalates and loyalties fracture in the town.

Barney loses his guard and Maroon and Hayden ride toward a showdown with the posse. Hayden shoots Maroon during the confrontation, and Grif arrives to subdue Hayden, ending the Maroon faction's leadership. The town's strife comes to a violent peak.

Barney joins the Union Army as a sergeant and bids farewell to Kate. Grif becomes a Union officer and reconciles with Annie, who had once been married to Maroon. As Grif and Barney depart on the stage, Doc Banteen and Confederate sympathizers march through town, signaling the town's divided loyalties at the war's onset.