The Old West town of Calendar, Colorado, springs up almost overnight when clumsy, hotheaded Prudy Perkins (Hackett) notices gold in a freshly dug grave during a funeral. Her father Olly (Morgan) becomes mayor of the new settlement. Other members of the town council (Henry Jones, Walter Burke) and he bemoan the town's descent into chaos and corruption, and are tired of the tolls exacted on their gold shipments by the Danbys, a family of near-outlaws who control the only shipping route out of town. The town has no sheriff, as most people are too busy prospecting, and the few who have taken the job have been run out of town or killed.