During an attempted robbery in a Nebraska frontier town, a young storekeeper, Matt McKay kills the brother of a murderous gang leader, Jack Moss. Fearing the outlaw's revenge, Matt's father takes him to Colorado and hires and once-feared gunfighter, Tom Patterson, to teach him the gun skills needed for self-defense and survival. For a sizable sum of money, Patterson accepts the task even though he views the young man too gentle and innocent to survive a gun battle with an accomplished killer. On his rundown ranch high in the Rocky Mountains, the gruff, older gunslinger imposes days of gun-handling practices, hoping to instill a killer instinct in the easygoing Matt. In the nearby rowdy mining town of Gold Stream, Matt has the opportunity to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of his mentor.
