Tom Jeffords, a gold prospector, finds a wounded 14-year-old Apache boy, close to death, with buckshot wounds in his back. Jeffords treats the wounds and saves the boy’s life. The incident enforces Jeffords’ feeling that the Whites and the Indians must reach a peace agreement. Jeffords learns the Apache language and customs and heads for a risky meeting with Cochise, the Apache chief. Jeffords convinces  Cochise to allow the mail couriers to pass without incident. Jeffords also meets a young Apache woman, Sonseeahray. They fall in love and have an Apache wedding. One day, when Cochise and Jeffords ride in a canyon looking for horse thieves, they are ambushed by an Apache-hating ruffian. Sonseeahray is killed;  Jeffords is bereft. Jeffords is determined to take revenge but is dissuaded by Cochise. Jeffords rides off realizing that peace is going to be incredibly elusive. But as Jeffords visits Apaches in the mountains, “he always feels that his wife is with him.”   

James Stewart (Tom Jeffords) / Jeff Chandler (Cochise) / Debra Paget (Sonseeahray)