The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.
Jim Killian arrives in a small Arizona town hoping to establish a peaceful life as the local preacher, but he soon finds himself in the middle of a feud between sheep ranchers and cattlemen. Leloopa, a young Native American woman, pleads for Killian's help after her shepherd father is hung by Coke Beck, the vicious son of the head cattle rancher. Killian must weigh his actions carefully lest he perpetuate the cycle of retribution and revenge.
Renegade Confederate soldiers take over a frontier town, but after they molest a young black woman, a group of ex-slaves arm themselves and counter-attack.
A widow hires an ex-gambler to retrieve gold bars from a sunken river boat in Colorado and discreetly return them to the Federal Mint, from where they had been stolen by her dead husband.
When half-breed Indian Yaqui Joe robs an Arizona bank, he is pursued by dogged lawman Lyedecker. Fleeing to Mexico, Joe is imprisoned by General Verdugo, who is waging a war against the Yaqui Indians. When Lyedecker attempts to intervene, he is thrown into prison as well. Working together, the two escape and take refuge in the hills, where Lyedecker meets beautiful Yaqui freedom fighter Sarita and begins to question his allegiances.
When the Indian Jimmyboy is accused of murder of a white man, he flees onto the ranch of Smith, who's well known for his tolerance for Indians, since he was raised by the old Indian Antoine. Smith helps Jimmyboy against the mean Sheriff and promises to speak for him in court, thus persuading him to surrender himself to the police.
A bandit kidnaps a Marshal who has seen a map showing a gold vein on Indian lands, but other groups are looking for it too, while the Apache try to keep the secret location undisturbed.
Braddock is an influential and highly respected citizen of the town of Two Arrows. He also represents a group of Mexican outlaws led by Valiente. Braddock plans an important robbery with only two young men, Loring and Parker, standing in the way of the bandits.
Ruthlessly pursued by the Rogers family following a dispute over cattle, Ben Caine is chased back to the Caine Ranch. Despite his wife Maria's desperate pleading, the Rogers family hangs Ben Caine, forcing Maria to watch. Consumed with revenge but finding her two brothers-in-law reluctant to assist, Maria enlists the help of Manuel. He agrees to Maria's plan with reluctance, in part because of his deep feelings/attraction to her. Manuel finds employment as foreman at the Rogers' ranch and surreptitiously kidnaps Pa Rogers' only daughter Johanna . With Johanna as the bait, Maria will be in the perfect position to exact her revenge on the Rogers but things don't turn out quite as planned.
When the multiple murderer Cain is released from prison after 18 years, he wants to settle down as a rancher and never touch a gun again. But his former life haunts him; not only that nobody wants to give him a job, some villains also want to pay him back. So he has to accept the offer of showman Ruffalo to perform as "Killer Cain" in his traveling shooting show. However after 18 years without practice even Ruffalo's young assistant Billy shoots better than Cain.
While moving a group of Apaches to a Native American reservation in Arizona, an American scout named Sam Varner is surprised to find a white woman, Sarah Carver, living with the tribe. When Sam learns that she was taken captive by an Indian named Salvaje ten years ago, he attempts to escort Sarah and her half-Native American son to his home in New Mexico. However, it soon becomes clear that Salvaje is hot on their trail.
As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life.
After Cacopoulos manages to save himself from being hung on a false charge, he robs Cat Stevens and Hutch Bessy of a lot of money and steals their horses. This results in a merry chase and Stevens and Bessy become unwilling allies in Cacopoulus' revenge against the people who deserted him and framed him to get their money back.