Two Army shopkeepers, Marsh and Lawson, have been cheating the local Indian tribes by supplying them with faulty or inferior goods. When one of the tribeswomen named Pale Moon threatens to report them to the Army Commission, the shopkeepers decide to start a war with the Indians. They know the Army will not investigate the woman's claim if they are at war. Marsh and Lawson murder Pale Moon's brother and pin the crime on the stranger who won $2,500 from them the night before - Beau Maverick.