When a small, battered troop of Union Cavalry arrive at his ranch with a wounded Comanche boy as prisoner, Pecos Quinn is concerned. But he strongly objects when they suggest he return the boy to the Comanche homeland on the Staked Plains as a peace offering to the new chief, Quanah Parker, in hopes of preventing another war. It soon becomes obvious, however, that someone must go and the only other man available is a raw, inept lieutenant fresh from West Point. Fate and the Comanche have conspired to rip Pecos from his loving wife and son and send him off on a journey so dangerous that it could easily result in his all too early and much too painful demise.