In 1932 Prohibition-era Texas, aimless drifter John Smith (Bruce Willis) drives his Ford Model A Coupe into the small bordertown of Jericho. As he arrives, a young woman named Felina (Karina Lombard) crosses the street, catching Smith's eye. Moments later, a group of Irish mobsters, led by Finn (Patrick Kilpatrick), surround Smith's car. They warn him against staring at "Doyle's property" and puncture his tires and smash his windshield.
Smith leaves his car in the street and goes to speak with Sheriff Ed Galt (Bruce Dern). Sheriff Galt doesn't bother to conceal his cowardice or corruption, saying he won't act against Doyle's gang and advises Smith to wait for his car to be repaired and to leave town. Instead, Smith walks to the town hotel, run by Joe Monday (William Sanderson) where Smith orders a drink, books himself a room, and arms himself before announcing his intention to petition Finn for damages. Smith enters Doyle's building, finds Finn, and asks him to pay for the damages to his car. Finn mocks him and threatens to shoot Smith. Smith and Finn get in a gunfight, which Smith wins with alarming speed. Smith departs, leaves the remaining gangsters alive as witnesses, and returns to the hotel bar, much to the surprise of Jericho's residents.
Following Finn's death, Fredo Strozzi (Ned Eisenberg), the head of Jericho's Italian gang, offers Smith a job in his outfit. Strozzi predicts a gang war between his and Doyle's gang, and is hiring as many skilled soldiers as he can. Smith accepts the job and sits down to dinner with the Strozzi gang where he meets Giorgio Carmonte (Michael Imperioli), son of a prominent Chicago mobster who is monitoring Strozzi's activities in Jericho. Carmonte expresses his distrust with Smith, who leaves the dinner, and meets and seduces Strozzi's mistress, Lucy (Alexandra Powers).
Smith accompanies Strozzi and his men to a remote Texas road. Together with Ramirez, a corrupt Mexican police capitÃ¡n providing security for Doyle, Strozzi ambushes and kills Doyle's men and seizes his entire liquor shipment. Following the ambush, Carmonte travels to Mexico to cut more deals with Ramirez. Meanwhile, Doyle (David Patrick Kelly) and his right-hand man, Hickey (Christopher Walken) return to Jericho and hear about the recent events, from Smith's arrival to Finn's death and the loss of their liquor shipment.
Smith defects to the Doyle Gang and reveals to them Strozzi and Carmonte's bribery of Ramirez. Hickey travels to Mexico, where he kills Strozzi's and Ramirez's men, a corrupt U.S Border Patrol officer, and kidnaps Carmonte. Doyle contacts Strozzi and demands a large ransom for Carmonte, as well as the return of his trucks. Strozzi in turn kidnaps Felina and offers an even trade, Felina for Carmonte. The two gangs make the exchange and return to their respective empires.
Smith is summoned by Sheriff Galt and meets Captain Tom Pickett (Ken Jenkins) of the Texas Rangers, who is upset over the death of the Border Patrol officer. He warns Smith that he can tolerate one gang in Jericho, but not two. He says that in ten days he will bring a squad of 20 Texas Rangers to Jericho and if he finds more than one gang, will wipe them both out. Smith says he intends to play the gangs against each other, wiping them both out and making money in the process. Pickett leaves, emphasizing that, if he finds Smith here in ten days, he'll kill him as well.
Lucy comes to Smith and reveals that Strozzi, angered after the exchange, beat her and had Giorgio cut her ear off when she revealed her affair with Smith. Smith gives her some money and puts her on a bus out of Jericho. The next day Smith relays a false rumor that Strozzi is bringing in more soldiers. Playing on Doyle's obsession with Felina, he makes Doyle afraid that Strozzi will try to kidnap her again, and Doyle orders Smith to go to the safehouse where Felina is being held. Smith kills the men guarding Felina. Felina reveals that her husband lost to Doyle on a game of poker and he kept her as a prize, and she goes to Mexico to return to her family, with Smith giving her one of Doyle's cars and some money. The next day, Smith is waiting at the safehouse when Doyle arrives, and claims that he arrived too late, Strozzi's men had already killed the guards and abducted Felina. Doyle's henchman Jack McCool (R. D. Call) believes Smith's story, while Hickey suspects that Smith killed the guards and freed Felina. Doyle goes berserk and declares all-out war on Strozzi and his gang.
Smith's plan goes awry when Hickey and some of Doyle's men ambush Smith, with Hickey revealing that he had pieced together the truth by learning that Felina was not abducted by Strozzi and had sold her car in Mexico and took a bus to the South. Doyle imprisons Smith and has him tortured, demanding to know where Felina is. Despite the heavy torture inflicted on him, Smith refuses to talk. Later that night, he escapes by killing two of Doyle's men, and escapes town with the aid of Monday and Sheriff Galt. As they are driving out of town, they see Doyle's gang slaughtering Strozzi's gang at a roadhouse. After all of their men are killed by Doyle's men, Strozzi and Carmonte exit the roadhouse and try to surrender to a revenge-driven Doyle. Hickey shoots Strozzi to death, while Carmonte is killed by Doyle's men.
Smith takes refuge at a remote church where Felina went to pray. Two days later, Sheriff Galt arrives and informs Smith that Monday was caught smuggling food and water to Smith and that Doyle will probably torture him to death. He then hands Smith his pistols and informs him that that is all the help Smith can expect from him. Smith returns to town and storms Strozzi's hotel, which is now Doyle's headquarters and kills all of Doyle's men, including McCool, and rescues Monday. Doyle and Hickey are absent, having gone down to Mexico in a desperate search for Felina.
In the final scene, Doyle, Hickey and Deputy Bob confront Smith at the burned-out remains of Strozzi's hideout since Smith summoned them there. Doyle, still despondent over the loss of Felina, tells Smith they can be partners and begs him to reveal where to find her. Before he can get further, Monday shoots Doyle in the chest with a Wild-West era revolver, killing him for "ruining his town" and Smith shoots a shotgun-wielding Bob before he can retaliate. Hickey drops his submachine gun and says he doesn't want to die in Texas ("Chicago maybe") and starts to walk away, intending to actually kill Smith. With lightning speed he turns and quickdraws a pistol from his holster, but Smith is faster and shoots Hickey, killing him.
Smith gets into his Ford (which was repaired by the mechanic) and drives on to Mexico, his original destination, leaving Monday some money and Doyle's car to return to Jericho. He reflects that he is as broke as he was when he first arrived, having given all the money he made off the two gangs to various women in order to get them out of town, including Felina and Lucy. However, he consoles himself that everyone in the two gangs is better off dead.
What did he leave Monday
Some money and Doyle's car