Following the United States' purchase of land from Mexico, Cavalry Major Tom Burke (Robert Stack, Airplane!) is sent to the Arizona frontier to help fashion a peace between the settlers and the native tribes. Though Apache leader Cochise (John Hodiak, Battleground) is anxious to stop fighting, the Comanche's Red Wing is not. When a renegade Comanche kills Cochise's wife, Burke has only a few days to prove that the Americans didn't do it. With Cochise holding Mexican Consuelo de Cordova (Joy Page, Casablanca) hostage, Burke tracks down the real killer. But when Cochise then tries heading off an all-out war, it's left to Burke to rescue him - and the future of the new U.S. territory - from Red Wing's attack.