Doug Monahan, a Texan of Irish looks and temperament, has brought his fencing crew to the town of Twin Wells, where he strings barbed wire fences to protect ranchers from rustlers and wandering stock. Those in favor of keeping the country wide open set out to stop Monahan and the landowners who hire him. His most powerful opponent is Captain Andrew Rinehart, former Confederate war hero, cattle baron, and life-long defender of the open range. Rinehart and his cruel foreman, Archer Spann, bring Twin Wells to the brink of a range war as they try to preserve the vanishing, unclaimed prairie for their cattle. Neither side will give in, as the past and the future clash, with innocent lives caught in the middle.