Colorado Sundown

At Ezekiel Reynolds' death, Lawyer Davis of Pine Valley, Colorado summons the heirs for a reading of Zeke's will, which instructs that his 66,000-acre ranch be divided in three parts and distributed equally among them. One third is to be inherited by his grandniece from the East, Jackie Reynolds, who has arrived with her friend Mattie, and another third by the son of Zeke's benefactor, Joshua "Slim" Pickens of Texas, whose boss, cattleman Rex Allen, has come along to see that Slim gets a fair deal. The remaining third of the ranch is to go to Zeke's deceased sister's children, Dan and Carrie Hurley, who own the local mill and until now, believed themselves to be the sole heirs to the property. At the reading, Dan attempts to refute the claims of Jackie and Slim and starts a fistfight with Rex, but when Rex wins, Carrie apologizes for her brother's behavior. However, the Hurleys are soon conniving to get the rest of the land from their naïve co-heirs, first by trying to manipulate them into selling by claiming that the trees on the ranch are infested with bark beetle, and then by trying to kill them in a boiler explosion. Both times, Rex comes to the rescue. The Hurleys are desperate, for the forestry service has halted the timbering of the area to prevent soil erosion and flash floods. They attempt to bribe a forest ranger, Fred Stocker, to condemn the trees on the area ranches, and when they are unsuccessful, murder him with poisoned tea. Afterward, they send for their outlaw brother, Dusty, to impersonate the ranger. Dusty then declares the trees infested with bark beetle and orders them to be cut down immediately. Dan buys the trees from the ranchers at a reduced price. As the ranchers regretfully denude their land, knowing that floods may destroy their ranches and livelihood, Rex becomes suspicious and writes a friend who works for the forestry service. When his friend's response arrives, Dusty steals the letter, shooting Mattie and Jackie's dog, Manhattan, in the process, and in a panic, goes to Carrie for help. Realizing that Dusty's ineptitude is putting her in jeopardy, Carrie serves him poisoned tea. Rex, who found Mattie shortly after she was shot, chases Dusty to town, and gets in a fight with him at the mill office. Carrie shoots Rex, claiming self-defense, and when Dusty dies, blames Rex for his death. The doctor does not believe Rex caused the death and wants to do an autopsy, but the Hurleys convince the sheriff to let their mill doctor handle it. The sheriff takes the personal effects from the body, and is surprised to find the ring Dusty was wearing is broken. The sheriff feels obligated to arrest Rex, but a thunderstorm causes the eroded land to flood and the town is evacuated. All hands, including Rex, are needed to sandbag. The rain finally stops, and during the cleanup, the body of the real Stocker is found. The doctor determines he died from a poison that bloats the body, and seeing that his finger has a ringmark that matches the ring found on Dusty's body, believes that the ring originally belonged to him and was cut off and worn by Dusty. Meanwhile, the angered ranchers are preparing to burn the mill, blaming the Hurleys for the flood. The Hurleys and their men ride out to fight them, so that when Rex and the sheriff arrive at the mill to confront the Hurleys, the office is deserted. Looking around, they find the letter from Rex's friend that states that the flood control law is still in effect and that no ranger is authorized to order the timbering of the area. After Slim arrives and tells them about the shootout between the ranchers and the timbermen, they all rush to the scene, hoping to stop the bloodshed. When they arrive, the sheriff reads the letter aloud to all, prompting the Hurleys to sneak away. Rex follows them to the office, and he and Dan fight, but when they fall into the water with the floating timber, Dan disappears. Inside, Carrie is preparing to poison herself, but Rex knocks the bottle out of her hand, and takes her to jail. Later, after Dan's body is found in the river, Mattie and Manhattan recover, and Rex, who learns that bark beetle does not threaten that part of the country, offers to use his expertise and connections to buy cattle for Jackie and Slim's ranch.