- When Yuma stops to see his old friend Coley Wilks, Yancey Daggett takes Coley hostage. Yuma is then sent to negotiate a deal with Coley's brother, a sheriff, to exchange Coley for Yancey's brother who is scheduled to hang.
- Johnny Yuma (Nick Adams) arrives at his friend Coley Wilks's (Lon McCallister) house. He hasn't seen him since the war, when they were at Rock Island, a Union prisoner of war camp together. Coley had made a bet with Johnny that they would never escape from the camp, and promised to forfeit a chicken dinner if they did, and now Johnny is here to collect. In the middle of their reminiscing, outlaws Yancy Daggett (Corey Allen) and Charley Kane (Barry Russo), who have been watching Coley's house and have seen Johnny arrive, burst in on them and take Coley prisoner. Yancy's brother Frank (Stephen Joyce) is sentenced to be hung by Sheriff Wilks (Ed Kemmer), Coley's brother, for murder at sunup. Yancy, who wants to trade Coley for Frank, orders Johnny to tell Sheriff Wilks where to bring Frank for the trade, telling him to come alone. Coley tells Johnny that he doesn't want to be traded, but Yancy says, "A live brother for a live brother; a dead brother for a dead brother."
The outlaws depart, taking Coley with them, and Johnny heads to town to inform the sheriff. Sheriff Jesse Wilks, though concerned for his brother, feels he can't let Frank loose, as he feels bound to his duty and the people who sentenced Frank to hang. Johnny decides to get the signitures of all the people on the jury, as well as the judge (Aladdin), on a petition giving Jesse permission to release Frank, taking some of the responsibilty of Jesse's shoulders.
Meanwhile, at the hidout where the outlaws are holding Coley, Kane is careless and Coley attempts to escape. Despite Yancy's injuction not to dispose of Coley, as they need him to bargain with, Kane shoots to kill Coley, but only wings him.
In town, Johnny gets manages to gather all the signitures, with some difficulty, and arrives back at the jail to tell Jesse. Just as they are about to release Frank, Martha Randall (Jean Inness), the widow of the man Frank killed, arrives and tells the sheriff that he did not get her permission. When Jesse asks her, she seemingly consents, then turns with a gun and kills Frank in his cell. The sheriff sends her home, answering Johnny's inquiry about what will the law do to her with, "What would you do if you were on the jury?" Though neither Johnny or the sheriff blame the widow much, they ruefully view the dead body of Frank Daggett, remembering what Yancy Daggett threatened. Then Johnny gets a plan.
That morning at sunup, Sheriff Wilks rides out to meet Yancy Daggett, seemingly taking Frank with him, but in reality it is Johnny in Frank's clothes and with his hair darkened with soot to match Frank's.
Arriving at the rocky hill where Coley and his captors are, Jesse Wilks and Johnny dismount, and Johnny begins walking up to the outlaws, as Coley begins walking down to his brother. From a distance, Yancy and Kane cannot tell Johnny is not Frank, but when Coley comes up close to Johnny, he is surprised. Johnny whispers to him to start a fight with him, which he does, both sides holding their fire to see what will happen next. Johnny pretends to knock Coley out, and begins to run up the hill. Jesse pretens to shoot him as they had arranged, but is then shot by Kane in return, which was not part of their plan. Yancy and Kane come down the hill to help the supposed Frank, but as they get close, they see it is Johnny, who then whips out a hand gun he had concealed and kills them both. Coley and Johnny run to Jesse, fearing the worst, but discover to their relief he is only wounded.
All three of them start back to have that long awaited chicken dinner together.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content