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 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.

Bill is brought to the Governor by two bounty hunters, and he's hired to become Marshal of border-town being controlled by an outlaw called El Sombro; Bill learns his old mentor is the current sheriff, and he's become an ineffective drunk.

After acting Marshall Bill decrees that no guns would be allowed on Rio Nada's streets, a casino owner hires two notorious gunmen to kill him.