Alvarez Kelly (William Holden), is a renegade adventurer who gets caught in the middle of the Civil War, with no loyalties to either North or South. Hired to drive a herd of cattle from Mexico to the Union Army in Virginia, Kelly is captured by Confederate Colonel Tom Rossiter (Richard Widmark), who persuades him - by shooting off a finger - to deliver the cattle to starving Confederates in Richmond. At a bridge leading to Richmond, the Union Army attacks and a bloody battle ensures. Kelly risks his own life to save a Confederate officer but in the end, Kelly’s fate once again lies in the hands of Colonel Rossiter.