The Duel

Kingston arrives in the isolated Texas border town of Mount Hermon to investigate a wave of murders and disappearances of Mexican citizens. He is tasked with locating Maria Calderon, the missing niece of a Mexican general. He deliberately hides his true mission and his identity as a Texas Ranger as he enters the town.

The townspeople greet Kingston with cold hostility as fear grips the town. Brant, the preacher and mayor who killed Kingston's father in a prior duel, offers him the role of town sheriff and presents himself as a wary ally.

Brant manipulates Kingston's wife, Marisol, exploiting her vulnerabilities to draw her closer. He uses their simmering relationship to lure Kingston away from his mission and to tighten his control over the town.

Naomi, an abused prostitute, approaches Kingston with information in exchange for help escaping her life. Brant and his men capture and hang her, silencing her before she can expose their crimes.

Kingston learns Brant abducts Mexicans to serve as prey for wealthy foreigners who hunt them. This revelation confirms Kingston's suspicions about the town's brutality and Brant's control over it.

Brant's son Isaac challenges Kingston to a Helena Duel to settle the feud. The fight leaves Kingston badly wounded, and he kills Isaac in self-defense.

Kingston escapes his attackers and frees several captured Mexicans from the remote prison compound, including Maria Calderon. The escape marks a turning point as Kingston begins to dismantle Brant's operation.

Kingston engages Brant in a tense shootout near the isolated prison, taking heavy injuries but managing to pin Brant under a fallen boulder. Brant, in desperation, amputates his own leg and crawls toward Kingston to finish him.

Maria reappears at the moment of Brant's final move and shoots him dead, ending his reign of terror. Her intervention saves Kingston from a fatal blow and restores a sense of justice to the town.

Kingston dumps Brant's body in the Rio Grande, near the corpse of a dead scalped Mexican woman. The river carries away the evidence as a grim end to Brant's tyranny.

With Maria safe, the Mexican general expresses his gratitude to Kingston for recovering his niece. The rescue validates Kingston's risky undercover mission.

Back in Mount Hermon, Kingston and the townspeople discover the town is abandoned and the prison has vanished. The violence has driven people away and left a hollow settlement behind.

Kingston rides off into the brush alone, haunted by the day’s events, and gazes up at the tree where Naomi was hung. The sense of unresolved tension lingers as he disappears into the landscape.