Scott is a young man working as a street sweeper in the town of Clifton, Arizona. Scott is looked down upon by the town people, as he has never known his father and only knows his mother's first name was Mary. The only two people who show him respect and friendship are Murph Allan Short, a former gunslinger, and Blind Bill, a partially blind old beggar. When Frank Talby rides into town and kills Perkins, one of Scott's bullies, Scott realizes the opportunity to change his life, and decides to prove his worth as a gunfighter to him. Talby soon leaves town to go after Wild Jack, his former associate, who owes him 50,000 dollars of a planned robbery. Scott follows him and Talby reluctantly lets him tag along and agrees to teach him ten essential rules about gunfighting.