When Billy Gene was just a boy, his parents were killed by a man who was escaping from jail. As the killer fled, he shot at young Billy and just missed him. Billy, a ragged orphan boy without even a pair of shoes to wear, was taken in by the owner of the the livery stable and the local carpenter. He grew up a lot in that little cattle town, being raised by the two kindhearted men. One day, the man who murdered his parents also killed the two men who raised him. Billy, now a young man, vowed to find this very cold-hearted murderer and see to it that he would never kill again. The trail leads Billy through the port city of Corpus Christi where he is made a Texas Ranger by the local sheriff. Billy marks the killer by shooting off the top of his left ear before the man escapes to Saint Louis. The young Billy follows and is injured in a gunfight with the killer and his cohort. But before he passes out from the gunshot woulds, he manages to shoot the killer in the hip. A lost trail, a blizzard and an unexpected delay result in a disgusted Billy Gene returning to Texas where he is summoned to Dallas for an urgent meeting with a lawyer. This visit will change the life of Billy Gene Randle forever, as well as the life of a certain young woman in Corpus Christi. Even so, he still intends to fulfill his vow to avenge the deaths of his parents and friends.