A Pale Shadow is a dark, meditative western that follows Jesse, a quiet young carpenter at odds with his alcoholic older brother over the money their dead father has left behind.
When Bob Stratton returns from war in France, he soon discovers his ranch in the hands of a pretty girl, Mary Thorne, who explains that upon her father's death she became the sole owner. Thorne had been the executor of Stratton's will, and thinking that Bob had been killed, he had appropriated the place for himself.
Susan Allenby's father is killed during a robbery staged by Bannack's corrupt sheriff, Tom Slade, and his men, leaving the girl to care for her eight brothers and sisters. Andy Crawford and his father William take the orphans in, but after Andy's father is killed, the young prospector vows to avenge his death and clean up the town.
John Found, a well-educated American Indian, works as an interpreter on an army post in the West. Although John Lane, a post officer, loves Katie O'Day, a rancher's daughter, he becomes the amorous target of the widowed Mrs. Van Allen. To rid herself of Katie, Mrs. Van Allen starts a rumor that Lane has a wife in an insane asylum.
A young American outlaw, famous in the east for his exploits, must return to his hometown to find stolen loot. But when his shame catches up with him, he realizes too late that he cannot come home.
Henry de Spain is determined to find the man who murdered his father. He becomes sort of an outsider with Duke Morgan's gang, cattlemen, and outlaws. Nan, daughter of the head of the clan, secretly loves Henry and when he is wounded in a fight with the Morgan clan, she helps him escape. This angers her father and he declares that she shall marry her cousin. Nan dispatches a message to Henry for assistance and he brings her safely to his clan. Nan then learns that her father was the murder of Henry's father. She returns to her father to learn the truth and together they go to Henry and reveal the murder's name. After a thorough understanding and forgiving, Henry and Nan are married.
A deserting soldier encounters a wagon train of settlers. When they are faced with an Indian attack, he risks court martial to return to the Army post for help.
Bill, who is with a bunch of cowboys on their way to town, picks up from the wreckage of a prairie schooner a little baby girl. Five years later the little girl, while running after butterflies, gets lost. Bill, waking up from his siesta, goes in search of her, but she cannot be found. The little girl, in the meantime, has climbed into a freighter's wagon. For twelve years she lives with him. One evening, while gambling with Mexican Pete, the freighter loses his money, and the girl, whom he had staked against the Mexican's winnings. But before the Mexican can take the girl away, Bill wins her from the Mexican, places her in the care of a woman neighbor and eventually marries her.
After an anonymous death threat, Suzanne, who is isolated at her house due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has to deal with her day-to-day life while an unknown danger surrounds her.