Hombre

It's the late nineteenth century in the Arizona Territory. John Russell was kidnapped by the Apaches when he was a child, they who raised him as Apache. John Russell finds him among the Apaches and takes him in and gives him his name. Russell decided to return to life up in the mountains with the Apache. Russell learns that his step-father has just passed and has bequeathed to him his property in Sweet Mary, which is a boarding house run by Jessie. Russell decides to trade the house for an herd of horses instead of taking Jessie up on her offer to continue it as boarding house. Shortly thereafter, Reverend Alex Favor, the aging Indian agent, and his proper younger wife Audra Favor are anxious to leave town, and with the stagecoach line having just shut down with the onset of the railroad, they, with Audra leading the transaction, decide to buy whatever required from the stagecoach company, including the rig - the only one available, a mud wagon - and the horses, and hire the ethnic Mexican stagecoach manager Henry Mendez to be their driver. They, in turn, offer the other spots on the wagon to anyone wanting a ride. The other passengers are: Russell who is heading to pick up his horses in Contention; Jessie, who has no reason to stay after her male companion, Sheriff Frank Braden, refuses to marry her, young married couple Billy Lee and Doris Blake as Billy no longer has a job as he worked for the stagecoach company and Doris who hated life there anyway; and stranger Cicero Grimes, who seems as eager to be on that specific wagon as the Favors were to get out of town. Early on in their trip, the Reverend learns of Russell's Apache background, and using Mendez as his intermediary, quietly banishes Russell from the inside of the wagon. Russell is instead to travel the rest of the way on top with Mendez. Things take a further turn when they discover the reason Grimes wanted so desperately to be on that specific wagon and threatens the lives of everyone else on board. Russell seems to have the best handle on what to do to get them out of this predicament, with the primary question being what the Favors will do with their specific goals and their view of Russell. Caught somewhat in the middle is Jessie, who cannot witness human suffering no matter what wrong said persons may have done up to this point in life.