Hondo Lane, a dispatch rider for the cavalry, encounters Angie Lowe, a woman living alone with her young son in the midst of hostile Apache territory. She presumes she is safe because the Apaches, under their chief Vittorio, have always left them alone. Later Hondo has a run-in with Angie's good-for-nothing husband and is forced to kill him. When Vittorio captures Hondo to save his life, Angie tells the Apache chief that he is her husband. In order to protect her from a forced marriage with one of the Apaches, Hondo reluctantly goes along with the lie.