Tom Dunson (John Wayne) is determined to start a cattle ranch in Texas. But when Indians destroy his wagon train, killing his wife and the only chance for Tom to have an heir, he adopts a boy who survives the Indian raid. He sends him off to school. But when Tom's adopted son Matt Garth (Montgomery Clift) returns as a man, he has different ideas about how to run the ranch. Tom has been able to rule his ranch as a man who has made up his own laws. As each one of his ranch hands has rebelled, he had found reason to hang them. As his control over his ranch diminishes, he decides that his only chance to save it is to drive his cattle north along the Chisholm Trail to Missouri. Matt believes there is a closer railroad and challenges Tom. When even his most loyal ranch hand Groot Nadine (Walter Brennan) sides with Matt, the father and his son must fight it out in their final confrontation.