Range detective Rance Dehner arrives in Conrad, Texas for a few days of fishing and finds himself in the midst of treacherous Indian trouble. Akando, who heads a band of renegades, demands that the town ban Indian children from attending its school. He threatens that if his orders are defied, Conrad will be attacked by Coyote, a mythical man/wolf of Indian lore. Angie Knowland, the schoolmarm, is determined to keep the school open to all children and is supported by Sahale the tribal chief. But a series of gruesome murders terrifies the townspeople and leads to explosions of violence. Dehner must protect the school and uncover the real culprit behind the killings as hatred, fear and gunfire ravages the small Texas town.