The Stagecoach

It's the late nineteenth century in the Arizona Territory. The Overland Stagecoach is making its regular run from Tonto to Lordsburg via Dry Fork, Apache Wells and Lee's Ferry. In addition to Buck the driver, the passengers are: Lucy Mallory of Virginia who has made it this far to meet up with her cavalry husband Captain Richard Mallory in Dry Fork where he's stationed, she who is hiding something about herself; southern gambler Hatfield, whose intentions in taking the coach may or may not be honorable to match his gambling; Samuel Peacock, who despite looking more like a priest is really a whiskey drummer from Kansas City, Kansas; and Dallas, Tonto's "lady of pleasure", and Doc Josiah Boone, despite truly being a physician is known more for being a drunkard, both of who are being driven out of town by the local puritanicals. When Buck looks for a guard for the trip, Marshal Curly Wilcox volunteers upon hearing that the Ringo Kid has escaped from prison in order to avenge his imprisonment by the Plummer brothers, led by Luke Plummer, they now in Lordsburg ridding anyone who has any association with Ringo. Curly hopes to apprehend Ringo in Lordsburg before any bloodshed occurs. One late pickup by the coach is of married Henry Gatewood, the local banker who is hiding the fact of embezzling $50,000 of the bank's money, the reason for his haste and belligerence hindering their trip. Two things happen early in their trip: they encounter Ringo who Curly takes into custody; and the cavalry informs them that Geronimo of the Apache nation is on the warpath, the cavalry who will do whatever they can for protection, with their first order however to defeat Geronimo. Under these parameters, the stage travels at its own risk. As this disparate group continues on their journey as far as they make it with the inherent dangers, they may find that their confines and situations will lead to a more humanistic dealing with each other than if they were in general society.