Joe (Robert Wagner) is Matt's son by his second wife, a Native American pretending to be Mexican, "Señora" (Katy Jurado). Because of Joe's mixed ethnicity, he is treated prejudicially by his three half-brothers—all Caucasian sons of Matt's first wife. The town's people call her Señora out of respect for Matt, but not out of respect for her. Matt's power and prestige keeps the discrimination by the townspeople towards Joe to a minimum, so long as Joe, an emerging young adult, is principally interested in riding the range alone, and spending time at his mother's native American reservation and with her people.