Wayne plays ex-Confederate soldier Ethan Edwards, an Indian-hater who believes more in bullets than words. He's out to find his young niece, who's been taken captive by the renegade Comanches who massacred her family.

Outlaws on the U.S.-Mexican border face the march of progress, the Mexican army and a gang of bounty hunters led by a former member as they plan to rob a U.S. Army train.

Mattie Ross is determined to avenge her father's blood by capturing Tom Chaney, the man who shot and killed him for two pieces of gold. Just fourteen, she enlists the help of Rooster Cogburn, a one-eyed, trigger-happy U.S. Marshall with an affinity for drinking, and hardened Texas Ranger LaBoeuf to track the fleeing Chaney. Despite their differences, their ruthless determination leads them on a perilous adventure that can only have one outcome: retribution....

When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy. Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs to join her.

With no market for his herd, the master of a vast cattle ranch and his son decide to head the first cattle drive over the now famous Chisholm Trail, past the Red River, into Missouri. The path is filled with hardship and the drive looks hopeless as the men struggle to prevail.

A young man pursues his murdered father's dream of the first transcontinental railroad, overcoming impossible odds, greedy officials, crooked Indians, and his father's killer to unite the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railways.

Bounty hunter Howard King tracks down a vicious criminal in an attempt to start a new life with the money he'll collect. When he finally catches up with his prey, he faces an even more perilous trip back with his quarry.

Boss Spearman, a rugged old-timer, free grazes cattle. He and Charley have been partners for ten years. The pair and their employees, Mose and Buttons, are driving their cattle across the West. Mose is attacked and thrown in jail during a visit to a town. The local cattle rancher, Baxter, wants the free grazers off his land and when Boss and Charley retrieve Mose, they are warned that they have until the next day to be out of the area. Charley confesses...

A poker game gets so rough that the players are killed off one by one.