A white man raised as an Apache faces confrontation with society.

A Union major late in the Civil War takes it upon himself to punish a band of Apaches who murdered a ranch family and fled into Mexico. Being short of troops he uses Confederate prisoners, ex-slaves and criminals to accomplish his goal.

When a ship carrying three American fortune hunters strands them in Mexico, fate deals them a great hand - from the bottom of the deck. In exchange for a fat payday, they must journey into the heart of evil to rescue a trapped miner. With death surrounding them and murderous Apache warriors at their heels, it will take all their cunning, ingenuity and bravery to excape with their reward, as well as their lives.

Hondo Lane, a dispatch rider for the cavalry, encounters Angie Lowe, a woman living alone with her young son in the midst of hostile Apache territory. She presumes she is safe because the Apaches, under their chief Vittorio, have always left them alone. Later Hondo has a run-in with Angie's good-for-nothing husband and is forced to kill him. When Vittorio captures Hondo to save his life, Angie tells the Apache chief that he is her husband. In order...