A
mysterious stranger rides out of the desert into the isolated mining town of
Lago, on the shore of a small lake in an unnamed western territory. Three men
follow him into the saloon, taunting him, then follow him to the barbershop.
When they challenge him, he kills all three with little effort. Attractive
townswoman Callie Travers deliberately bumps into him in the street, knocks his
cigar from his mouth, and loudly insults him. He drags her into the livery
stable and rapes her.
That night, in his hotel room, the
Stranger dreams of a man being brutally whipped. Then, in a flashback, Jim
Duncan, a federal marshal, is whipped to death in front of the hotel by outlaws
Stacey Bridges and brothers Dan and Cole Carlin as the citizens look on.
Sheriff Sam Shaw approaches the
Stranger and offers him the job previously held by the men he killed: defending
the town from Bridges and the Carlins, who are about to be released from jail.
He declines. Shaw, in desperation, offers him anything he wants in return. The
Stranger learns that the townspeople were complicit in Duncan's murder; they
hired the outlaws to kill him after he discovered that the town's only source
of income, the mine, was on government land. They then double-crossed the
murderers and turned them in.
Upon learning this, the Stranger
accepts the job, and takes full advantage of the deal. He appoints barbershop
employee Mordecai as sheriff and mayor, and provides an Indian and his children
with supplies at the shopkeeper's expense. He orders the hotel owner and his
guests to vacate the premises, leaving him its sole occupant. When Belding’s
wife Sarah objects, he drags her, kicking and screaming, into her bedroom. The
next morning, Sarah tells the Stranger that Duncan cannot rest in peace,
because he is buried in an unmarked grave outside of town.
The Stranger instructs the
townspeople in defensive tactics, but they clearly lack the skills or courage
for the job. He also orders that every building in town be painted blood red.
Then, without explanation, he mounts his horse and rides out of town, pausing
to replace "Lago" on the town sign with "Hell".
Meanwhile, Bridges and his gang are
on their way to Lago. The Stranger harasses them with dynamite and long-range
rifle fire, leaving them to ponder the identity of their attacker. Returning to
Lago, the Stranger inspects the preparations—town painted red, townsmen with
rifles stationed on rooftops, picnic tables laden with food and drink, and a
big "WELCOME" banner overhead—then he remounts and departs again.
The Bridges gang arrives and easily
overcomes the inept resistance of the townspeople. Bridges shoots several of
the civic leaders who double-crossed them. By nightfall the town is in flames,
and the terrified citizens are huddled in the saloon. A mysterious sound is
heard in the street; when Cole Carlin walks outside to investigate, everyone
listens in horror as he is whipped to death. Dan Carlin is found dead too,
hanging from another whip. At last the Stranger reveals himself, beats Bridges
to the draw, and kills him.
On his way out of town the following
morning, the Stranger pauses at the cemetery as Mordecai is finishing a new
grave marker. "I never did know your name", Mordecai says. "Yes,
you do", the Stranger replies. As he rides past a bewildered Mordecai into
the desert, the writing on the new headstone is revealed: Marshal Jim
Duncan—Rest in Peace.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Plains_Drifter
