Like many Easterners who suffer from consumption, "The White Plague," Jim Warren goes to Arizona for the curative powers of its dry climate. When he arrives in Tucson, though, he cannot find a room because he is a 'lunger.' Ill and despondent, Jim is befriended by Betty Blake, the daughter of rancher and town sheriff Frank Blake, who suggests that he try the open desert. Wandering the desert, Jim happens upon members of the gang headed by Scar-face Jordon, a notorious rustler.