Blackie Saunders and his young partner Sandy arrive in Indian Springs where Blackie meets his old friend Jim whom he once rode with on the wrong side of the law. Jim is now the Parson but Blackie still carries the reputation of a killer. When the townspeople decide Blackie is not a fit guardian for the boy, Jim convinces Blackie to leave the boy with him. But just after Blackie leaves town, the express office is robbed and it is assumed Blackie did it.
Drifters Tom Williams and Joe Morgan have a chance meeting with the sheriff's daughter and learn that her brother Jim is being held prisoner in Line Hollow by Wolf, who aspires to be the next sheriff. They aid the sheriff in finding the outlaw gang and rescuing Jim. Tom decides to stop drifting and stay near the sheriff's daughter.
As a baby, John Ermine is stolen from a wagon train by the Crow Indians and is adopted by Chief Fire Bear. John grows to manhood, ignorant that he is a white man until his parentage is disclosed to him by Crooked Bear, a white hermit who is on friendly terms with the Crows. Crooked Bear teaches John the language and customs of the white man's civilization, impressing upon him that it is his sacred responsibility to keep peace between the white men and the Indians.
During a violent disagreement, a miner strangles his partner and accidentally shoots the man's wife. He then deserts his own wife and son to elope with the saloon keeper's daughter. As they are fleeing, the girl discovers the deed and insists upon caring for the baby found in the dead wife's arms.
Orphan Hilda Swanson's prayers are answered when a Swedish-American colonization company agrees to send her to America. Aboard the steamer, she meets Olaf, a young Swede, and Donna, an enemy courier who is posing as a passenger. Learning that the secret service is on her trail, Donna sews secret documents into the hem of Hilda's skirt. She then sends a wire to her comrade Felix Martinez, notifying him to intercept the Swedish girl.
After her mother's death, Mary not only becomes the household slave of her overbearing father, Scottish American Andy MacTavish but also becomes a mother to her little sister Ruth at their home on the Dakota plains.
Billy Brooks, who exhibits an effeminate personality, leaves his Wall Street magnate father and goes on the road as a perfume salesman. In an effort to cure his son of his womanly ways, Brooks, Sr. wires Nebeker, an old rancher friend, to kidnap Billy from the train and "make a man of him."
Disgusted with his son Harvey's attitude since his return from college, wealthy William Ogden turns the boy out to make his own way in the world. Harvey finally lands in the Canadian North Woods, where he goes into business with Joe Dubois, a hunter and trapper. One day while Harvey is trapping, his leg is caught in a steel trap. He is rescued by A-Che-Chee, the daughter of Black Lynx the Indian Chief. A-Che-Chee takes Harvey to her cabin, where she dresses his wound. When her father and brother discover Harvey there, they insist upon an immediate marriage. Harvey protests, but finally agrees in order to maintain the good will of the Indians.
Disturbed by the separation of his friends Mary Smith and Arthur Saxon, who really love each other, William "Red" Saunders resolves to reconcile the couple. Discovering that Belknap, a missionary with political aspirations, exercises a destructive hypnotic influence over Mary, Red schemes to eliminate Belknap.
For Nita Valyez, who is half-Spanish and half-Irish, Carlos represents potential violence and danger, two things to which she is both attracted and repelled. In contrast, she has only a passing interest in Big Jim, the town's honest, good-hearted sheriff. Then, after Carlos kills a faro dealer, he forces Nita to make an escape with him.
Bradley and sidekick Sharpe are sent west to investigate the murders of pony express riders who are being killed to prevent the Spanish Land Grant papers going to Washington for registration.
John Oakhurst, a gentleman gambler, befriends Sandy Morton, who has dissipated his birthright through gambling and excessive drinking and dropped from his father's sight. Although Oakhurst soon takes Sandy's place in the affections of his father, he boards a train heading West and meets Pritchard, an alcoholic, and his wife, the Duchess. Pritchard is wanted by the law and Oakhurst helps him to escape detectives who are on his trail.
Ibrahim Shaddad’s graduation film Jagdpartie (1964), which he shot at the Deutsche Hochschule für Filmkunst Potsdam-Babelsberg (now: Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF), is a treatise on racism. Shot in a forest in Brandenburg, it uses a Western look to portray the hunt for a Black man.
Private Frank Austin, imprisoned for striking Colonel Kincaid, who was abusing a lame newsboy, escapes to Colorado. Meanwhile, Latin professor Thomas Doyle, his wife Mary and sister Kitty also move to Colorado because of Mrs. Doyle's health and are persuaded by Kincaid to buy a ranch that is worthless because it has no irrigation. While Mrs. Doyle gets well and Doyle's funds run out, Austin, on land bordering Doyle's, strikes gold and is blackmailed by Kincaid to let him have a controlling interest.
Harley Hennage, a gambler, loves Marie but remains silent when he realizes that she is in love with Oliver Corblay, a prospector. After Corblay and Marie marry, Harley moves to the distant town of San Pasqual and does not see his old sweetheart until her husband is killed while staking a claim in the desert.
Arizona range rider Lon Gilchrist helps stagecoach passengers fight off attacking Apaches. After rescuing a baby and binding her bleeding forehead with his handkerchief, Lon receives a reward that allows him to buy a ranch. Many years later, the rescued child, Lizzie Mayberry, is a waitress in a cheap restaurant, where she meets Lon, who, now wealthy, courts and marries her. Because he is so busy, Lon has his friend Del Beasley look after her. After a misunderstanding, Lizzie has Del take her to the railway station. Thinking that they left together, Lon pursues them.
Setting West was made using original printing materials from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as wood type, borders and stereotypes of “Cowboys and Indians”, trains and bison. These words and images were printed directly onto 35mm clear film stock at eminent letterpress studios in North America: the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum in Two Rivers, the Center for Book and Paper Arts in Chicago, the Hatch Show Print in Nashville and the Musée de l’imprimerie du Québec & Lovell Litho in Montréal. Judith Poirier printed 1,643 feet of film to produce her abstract western and her technique of printing onto celluloid creates a unique texture on screen, as well as generating an original soundtrack. Setting West reinterprets a classic cinematic genre while exploring a formative period in the history of typography and printing.
Lassiter quits the Texas Rangers and spends his life in pursuit of a group of Mormons who kidnapped his married sister. In a town on the Utah border, he meets the Withersteens and falls in love with their daughter, Jane. He also befriends Venters, and helps him track down some bandits who have been rustling the Withersteens' cattle.