The Broken W ranch has used the same drive route for years: consequentially, every local rustler knows where the herd will pass, making it easy pickings. Ranch owner Glen Wycherly has an old map showing a potential alternative course through the Poconos - however, the map is incomplete. With a contract to deliver five hundred steers to Fort Davis, Wycherly dispatches former railroad man Ray Hardin to survey the new terrain and report back on its suitability. But Hardin and his companion Wally Chambers will find they are riding along a trail of danger...