The Texan, a Civil War Veteran whose reputation of being the fastest gun in the west precedes him, roams across Texas from town to town, not looking for trouble; trouble finds him.

Bill tries to find out who's supplying whiskey to railroad workers during their working hours in order to halt railroad progress; he first suspects a saloon owner, but it becomes clear she's not the guilty party.

Bill agrees to take his former Civil War commander's oldest son with him to make a man out of him; Bill quickly detects the son has an intense bitterness towards his father.

Bill escorts a prisoner to Pueblo for trial; he is also to deliver money to the prisoner's mother for his daughter, whom she has custody of; the two men encounter a dust storm, which forces them to take refuge in a ghost town.

Bill hopes to prove that his friend Steve Murrow is innocent of killing the man who married the girl he was hoping to marry, but he only has 24 hours to do it before Steve is hung; the town sheriff has threatened to kill Bill if he frees Steve.