Retired Texas Ranger Captain Woodrow Call (James Garner) has become a bounty hunter, hired by the Texas railroad for one last hunt for a psychopathic 17-year-old killer. Joining him on the hunt, which crosses Texas and into Mexican Teritory, is his one-time corporal, Pea Eye Parker (Sam Shepard). Pea Eye's Wife Lorena (Sissy Spacek) - the late Gus McCrae's sweetheart - sets out after her husband to convince him to come home after she learns that the murderous Indian Mox Mox is on the rampage and looking for someone new to burn alive.