Jason McCullough (Garner), a confident and exceptionally skilled gunfighter who says he is only passing through town on his way to Australia, sees Joe Danby (Dern) gun down a man in the town's saloon. Needing money after encountering the town's ruinous rate of inflation, McCullough takes the job of sheriff, impressing the mayor and council with his uncanny marksmanship. He breaks up a street brawl, and later at the Perkins house meets Prudy, despite her attempts to avoid him due to her embarrassing circumstances. McCullough arrests Joe and tosses him in the town's unfinished jail, which lacks bars for the cell doors and windows, keeping the dimwitted Joe in his cell through tricks and psychology.