Tribute to a Bad Man

Rustlers raid Rodock's Wyoming ranch, taking his horses and wounding him with a gunshot. He is found by a young cowboy, Steve Miller, who digs out the bullet, stabilizes him, and saves his life. Grateful, Rodock offers Steve a job at the ranch.

Rodock clings to a personal code of lynching rustlers rather than arrest or trial. This 'hanging sickness' is described to Jocasta Constantine by McNulty, who voices the fear and moral danger of such justice.

McNulty makes a pass at Jo, and Rodock misreads the situation when he sees them leaving a barn together. He fires McNulty, then beats him viciously before ordering him off the ranch.

Rodock rides to his former partner Peterson's spread to demand information about who helped steal the horses and murdered Whitey. He grows convinced that Peterson and his partners Hearn and Barjak are involved.

Peterson and his son Lars deny any involvement, but Rodock's suspicions turn toward Hearn and Barjak as the possible thieves. The tension climbs as Rodock closes in on the conspiracy.

Rodock shoots and kills Peterson, acting on his growing belief that the carries out the rustling scheme. The act underscores his resolve to dispense rough justice on the frontier.

Following Peterson's death, Rodock hangs Hearn in a swift act of vigilante justice. The event deepens the moral cost of Rodock's path and heightens Lars's resolve for revenge.

Lars, furious at his father's death, vows to avenge him. He joins forces with McNulty and Barjak and they hatch a plan to steal every horse Rodock owns.

Steve is sickened by the sight of hangings and Rodock's vigilante path. Jo urges him to speak with Rodock about his methods, revealing the tension between love and justice on the ranch.

Valuable horses are stolen again as McNulty and the others strike. McNulty then files down the horses' hooves into bloody stumps to slow Rodock's pursuit, escalating the brutality of the conflict.

Rodock catches up to the trio, dismounts them, and forces them to walk to jail through a brutal landscape of sand, rock, and cactus. Barjak collapses from exhaustion while McNulty pleads for mercy.

Rodock comes to his senses, lets the others go, and returns Lars to the Peterson ranch with an offer to make restitution. The act marks a tentative shift away from pure vengeance toward negotiated settlement.

Back at the ranch, Steve prepares to leave with Jo, acknowledging the limits of their circumstances. Rodock cannot blame them, but when he retrieves jewelry Jo left behind, she has a change of heart and decides to stay with Rodock after all.