A fired railroad man is re-hired and entrusted to carry a ten thousand dollar payroll in secret, even though he is suspected of being connected to outlaws.

The workers on the railroad haven't been paid in several months. That's because Whitey and his gang - including fast-shooting, dangerous, but likeable Utica Kid - keep holding up the train for its payroll. Grant McLaine, a former railroad employee who was fired in disgrace, is recruited to secretly take the payroll through. A young boy and a shoe box figure into the plot when Whitey's gang tries to hold up the train, and Grant and the Kid meet again to settle an old score.—A.L.Beneteau <[email protected]>

Grant McLaine (James Stewart) is hired by his old boss, Ben Kimball (Jay C. Flippen), to secretly deliver the payroll to a camp at the end of the track. The payroll has been previously robbed three times by a gang led by Whitey Harbin (Dan Duryea) and The Utica Kid (Audie Murphy), who caused McLaine to lose his job with the railroad five years earlier. When the train carrying McLaine to the camp is held up by Harbin's gang, McLaine hides the money in a shoebox carried by Joey (Brandon deWilde), a boy who McLaine previously saved from Concho (Robert J. Wilke), a member of Harbin's gang. The gang is angry at not finding the money, so they take Joey, who is friends with The Utica Kid, with them. They also kidnap Kimball's wife, Verna (Elaine Stewart), for ransom. Concho pistol whips McLaine and leaves him for dead. When McLaine wakes up he tracks the gang to an abandoned mine. He reveals to the gang that he is The Utica Kid's older brother and asks to join. The Utica Kid is suspicious of his honest brother, but Harbin agrees, hoping to play the brothers against each other. McLaine unsuccessfully attempts to reform his brother by admitting where the money is hidden. When Harbin's railroad informant arrives seeking his share of the money, the entire situation will explode.—Patrick Depew