1890. Early summer. A traveler arrived on the Wyoming plateau. The man received water at the home of Joe Starrett, a settler, and was allowed to stay the night due to the family's kindness. The man called himself Shane. Joe, his wife Marian, and their son Joey were troubled by the rancher Ryker, whose interests conflicted with theirs, and asked Shane to work for them until winter. Shane seemed to have something on his mind, and when he was provoked by Ryker's henchmen at the saloon, he didn't retaliate. Ryker's gang, emboldened, confronted Shane again at the saloon, and this time he fought back. With Joe's help, Shane defeated the attackers and left the saloon. Enraged, Ryker summoned Wilson, a hired killer from Cheyenne, and Tory, one of the settlers with a short temper, became Wilson's first victim. Joe, asked by Ryker to surrender his farm, resolved to sacrifice his life for the sake of the farmers and was about to enter the enemy's saloon alone, but...