Questions arise when Senator Stoddard attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon in a small Western town. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved Stoddard, then a lawyer, when he was roughed up by a crew of outlaws terrorising the town, led by Liberty Valance. With the territory's safety hanging in the balance, Doniphon and Stoddard, two of the only people standing up to him, were very important but different foes to Valance.
