In the years following the Civil War, the town of Abilene, Kansas is poised on the brink of an explosive confrontation. A line has been drawn down the center of the town where the townsfolk and the cattlemen have come to an uneasy truce. The delicate peace is shattered when a group of new homesteaders lay down their stakes on the open range used by the cattlemen, upsetting the delicate balance that had existed thus far and sparking an all-out war between the farmers, who want the land tamed, property lines drawn and fences and the cowboys, who want the prairies to be open for their cattle to roam. The townsfolk and merchants have to decide which side of the dispute they are on.