Synopsis: John Rankin and his Southwestern Stage Line have been granted the right of way in Oak Flats Texas, and have bought out every property except Peggy Barlow's Tin Cup Ranch. Unwilling to sell, Barlow is on the verge of being forced out by court order, so Tin Cup foreman Tex Haines suggests that they take the law into their own hands. His call to violence is quickly tempered by a plan to resolve the matter with diplomacy and a petition to the governor is drafted. The fragile peace is shattered when the unarmed bearer of the petition is shot by one of Rankin's gunmen. Tex isn't aware that the governor has already sent two of his finest agents to look into the matter, and that they're posing as ranch hands at the Tin Cup.