Unforgiven

In 1880, Quick Mike slashes Delilah Fitzgerald's face, permanently disfiguring her. Sheriff Little Bill Daggett orders Mike and his companion Davey Bunting to surrender several ponies to Skinny DuBois as compensation for the lost revenue. The prostitutes publicly offer a $1,000 reward for the cowboys' deaths, setting a violent bounty in motion.

Little Bill arrives with his deputies and enforces the anti-gun law by disarming English Bob and beating him. Bob is humiliated and banished from Big Whiskey the next morning. Beauchamp stays behind, drawn to the sheriff's ruthless pragmatism and what it reveals about the Wild West.

In Hodgeman County, Kansas, the boastful Schofield Kid visits Will Munny's hog farm, claiming to be an experienced bounty hunter. Will, a repentant widower with two children, initially refuses to help or return to violence. The Kid's request plants the seed for a dangerous comeback to the outlaw life.

Seeing that his farm is failing and his children's future is at stake, Will finally agrees to pursue the bounty. He decides to join forces with the Kid and seeks out Ned Logan as a partner. This marks Will's return to the life he once left behind.

Will and the Kid recruit Ned Logan to the venture, and the three catch up with one another. They discover that the Kid is near-sighted, complicating their plans. The trio steels itself for the dangerous journey to Big Whiskey to claim the bounty.

Back in Big Whiskey, English Bob arrives with his biographer Beauchamp seeking the bounty. Little Bill disarms Bob to discourage other gunslingers from claiming the reward and banishes him the next morning. Beauchamp remains fascinated by the sheriff and his code.

Beauchamp stays in town, drawn to Little Bill, who explains that the best attribute for a gunslinger is to stay cool-headed under fire. He also argues that you should always kill the best shooter first, a pragmatic justification for the town's crackdown on violence. The conversation foreshadows the brutal code at work in the town.

Will, Ned, and the Kid ride into Big Whiskey as a rainstorm pelts the streets and head to Skinny's saloon. Ned and the Kid meet with the prostitutes upstairs, while Little Bill confronts Will, who remains unidentified but clearly a target for the bounty. The stage is set for a collision between law and revenge.

Not realizing Will's true identity, Bill confiscates his weapon and savagely beats him to deter others from claiming the bounty. Ned and the Kid escape through a back window and take Will to a nearby barn where the prostitutes nurse him back to health. Their bond is tested under the sheriff's ruthless intimidation.

A few days later, the trio ambushes Davey but misses; Will finally shoots Davey after Ned falters. The failure shakes Ned, who decides to quit and return to Kansas, leaving Will and the Kid to continue the hunt on their own. The mission fractures into a smaller, more dangerous pursuit.

Ned is captured and flogged by Little Bill to reveal Will's whereabouts, a brutal reminder of the sheriff's iron hold over the town. Undeterred, Will and the Kid press on with the plan, resolved to finish the job that Ned could not complete. The revelation of Ned's fate hardens their resolve.

Will escorts the Kid toward the ranch and instructs him to ambush Quick Mike in the outhouse, while the Kid admits fear of killing and contemplates returning to Kansas. A prostitute arrives with the reward and tells them Ned's fate, shattering Will's resolve and prompting a turn toward drinking. The Kid reluctantly hands over his revolver, choosing to step away from killing.

That night, Will finds Ned's corpse displayed in a coffin outside Skinny's. Inside the saloon, Little Bill and his deputies rally a posse, but Will crashes the scene and kills Skinny before turning his revolver on Little Bill. In a climactic shootout, Will annihilates the posse and leaves the town a hollow shell of itself.

With Little Bill dead, Will rides away from Big Whiskey, his future uncertain and his past firmly behind him. A final title card notes his mother's uncertainty about why her daughter married such a notorious outlaw, hinting at a complicated legacy. The film closes on a wary, unsettled sky over the plains.