Blood Bounty

U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp whose wife to be was killed in Tombstone, Arizona by a bullet meant for him has given up after years of searching for her killer and settled in the wilds of the New Mexico Territory. There, without warning, he becomes the target of a gang of desperados who try to kill him. Earp has no idea who they are or why they want to kill him. After a gun fight, in which Earp and one of the desperados, a man named Swinney, are wounded. The desperados, lead by Liege Jorgans, back off and try to find a doctor. Instead they find Keith and Sara Duncan’s ranch house which they invade, rough up Keith Duncan and Sara and hold them prisoners until Swinney is batched up. During the commotion, Sara’s eleven year old daughter, Ella Mae, takes the baby and runs out the door.

Down in Abilene, Texas at the Silver Spur Saloon, owner Ike Clanton is talking with three of his cronies, McGuire, Wade and Phillips. He convinces them to ride to New Mexico and help Jorgans kill Earp and they can share the five thousand dollar bounty he has placed on Murdock.
Phillips says something that riles Clanton and he shoots Phillips. McGuire and Wade head for New Mexico.

Ella Mae struggles through the night, carrying the baby and stumbles upon Wyatt Earp’s cabin at dawn. He spots the girl and runs to her aid. Learning about the gang of desperados, he secures Ella Mae and the baby in his cabin and rides to help the Duncan. With Sara Duncan’s help he subdues Jorgans and a man named Tharp. Swinney is no threat to them he’s too badly wounded. Keith Duncan gets the honor of riding them down to Spanish Grove and turning them over to Sheriff Bill Crawford.

When McGuire and Wade arrive in Spanish Grove, they break Jorgans, Swinney, who has recovered, and Tharp out of jail, killing a deputy in the process. Now the five of them ride out to kill Earp. But Jorgans has plans to kill Keith Duncan for taking them to jail. He manages to get a shot off before riding after the others as they head for Earp’s cabin.

Wyatt  Earp is hunting when the five men come upon him at the edge of a cliff. They open fire and Earp is hit falling over the cliff.  He struggles to get to his feet and manages to stagger off a ways before passing out. He is found by Indian friends and they take him to the Duncan ranch.

There Earp wakes up and learns that Keith Duncan has been killed. Now the situation turns as the hunters become the hunted and one by one they become Earp’s targets. And from one by one he tries to learn why they are trying to kill him. Finally he nails the last one, Jorgans. After learning that Clanton has placed a blood bounty on him for killing his kin back in Tombstone and that Clanton is the drygulcher who shot his wife to be, Wyatt Earp heads to Abilene, Texas to avenge her death.