A stagecoach is winding its way towards the small town of Medicine Bend when it is attacked by outlaws. However the coach's passengers manage to beat them off. This unusual array of characters, the new town marshal Wade Calvin, insurance salesman Taber, and Miss Jowett, on her way to care for her relatives, thus find their lives intertwined. As the new arrivals settle in, the outlaws' vicious leader Goad 'Gila' hears news of the botched robbery from his base in a disused silver mining camp in the surrounding hills. Named after the deadly Gila lizard he keeps as a pet, Goad is brutal and unpredictable. He learns of Calvin's presence in town and believes he is the same man who once imprisoned him. Goad is determined to get his revenge. When Miss Jowett's young relatives are kidnapped, Calvin knows the race to find the outlaws is on. He must take the fight deep into the hills as he searches for Goad and his camp, and the stolen children - before it is too late.