Jim Hardie has been sent to the Matamoras, Mexico Wells Fargo Office from Laredo to pick up a shipment. In the early 1870s there was a revolution in the area which made living there and travel dangerous. Ship Captain John Plumber enters the office looking for Jim Hardie. He has arrived with the cargo sent to Hardie by Wells Fargo - $500,000 in paper money for Laredo, Texas. At least not being in gold he can carry it as his only transportation is by canoe and mule. The cash can be redeemed for gold so it is valuable even to the bandits in the area. Besides the money, the Captain has brought his daughter, Lillian Barkley, a newlywed who wants to meet her husband in Texas. She has a note from Wells Fargo authorizing Jim to take her. He tries to dissuade her but she refuses to not go. This is followed by another man, William Dodd, a surveyor for a new railroad to Laredo who also has a note from Wells Fargo telling Hardie to take him on. The arrangements Hardie made for transportation break down immediately when no help shows up. Then they find a man in chains with a woman left by bandits at a stop. They eventually must travel on foot while fending off the bandits.
—Anonymous