In the Dakota Territory in 1883, Sandy McKenzie, a famed buffalo hunter who has abandoned the trade to raise cattle after growing weary of all the killing, can only watch helplessly as his modest herd of cattle is destroyed in a buffalo stampede. Buffalo hunter Charles Gilson asks Sandy to join him in hunting buffalo, but Sandy is anything but eager to return to that line of work.Hoping to make a stake to replace his herd, Sandy McKenzie, a decent, deliberate sort of chap who has a high regard for the Indians and eventually for buffaloes, sets out on one final hunt with his new partner, the obsessive Charles Gilson, a bestial and brutal type who hates Indians and likes to kill them almost as much as he likes to kill buffaloes. While McKenzie has grown tired of buffalo hunting, Gilson derives a pleasure from his kills, even going as far to kill an entire herd of buffalo at one time.In town, Sandy hires two men to round out their hunting party: Jimmy O'Brien, a red-headed half-Sioux who has decided to leave the reservation and live as a white man, and Woodfoot, a one-legged alcoholic who once was known as the best mule skinner in the territory.Before the men can depart, a raiding party of Sioux Indians steals their mules. Gilson chases down and kills the raiding party; he takes a beautiful Indian woman and her child captive. At camp, he orders the woman to cook for him and later roughly kisses her.Charlie is an unashamed racist with a deep suspicion and hatred of the Indian. He considers the girl to be his personal property, one of the spoils of war if you like, to be used or abused as he pleases. If he is not beating on the girl, he is making vain efforts to assault her. Sandy watches moodily, reflecting on the vice of Indian-hating and working up his nerve to slug his pal.On the following day, the men locate a herd of grazing buffalo and, from their positions on the nearby hills, they shoot until the meadow is filled with carcasses. Sandy spares a white buffalo because the animal is sacred to the Sioux. Charley, however, nonchalantly kills the beast, and when the Sioux woman sees the slaughter, she bitterly declares, "You take away our food and now you kill our religion."Unperturbed, Charley leads the woman into his shack for the night, upsetting Sandy, who loves her.The next day, Jimmy's friend, Spotted Hand, sees the white buffalo skin and tries to buy it by offering his horses for it. He wants the hide to be treated with the proper respect. Charlie won't sell it and challenges the young man to a gun battle. If Spotted Hand wins he gets the buffalo hide, if Charlie wins he gets the pleasure of killing Spotted Hand. Spotted Hand is killed, and that night, the woman secretly gives Jimmy the sacred hide. At some distance from the camp, Jimmy uses the hide in a burial ritual for his friend.Later, Sandy asks why the woman remains with Charley, and she replies that because her people are starving, she must do whatever is required to keep the child alive. Feeling jealous of Charley and guilty at his own role in the killing of the buffalo, Sandy rides into town to sell the hides. He then gets drunk and starts a fight in the saloon, and later he inadvertently insults Peg, the dance hall girl, by suggesting that she is part Indian.Upon his return to camp, Sandy tells Woodfoot of his intention to free the Sioux woman. Several days pass, but few buffalo appear. Driven half-crazy by his desire to kill more animals, Charley mistakes the sounds of a passing thunderstorm for pounding buffalo hooves and sets out in pursuit of his prey. That night, Woodfoot gets Charley so drunk so that Sandy is able to ride quietly away with the woman, but when daylight comes, Charley goes after them in a rage. In an effort to stop Charley from hunting Sandy, Woodfoot drives Charley's horse away, an act that prompts Charley to kill him.At the reservation, Sandy learns that the Army never delivered a promised shipment of food and supplies to the Indians who live there; the people are starving. They have already eaten their horses and dogs. Sandy gives them his mules. The Indians dance, hoping the buffalo will come back. He and the Sioux woman ride to town for the supplies just as bitterly cold weather sets in.In town, Charley nearly kills Jimmy for refusing to speak ill of Sandy, and soon afterward, Jimmy sees Sandy and warns him of Charley's presence.Sandy, Jimmy and the woman drive a supply-laden wagon and a small herd of cattle back toward the reservation. The cold drives them into a cave for the night. Charlie finds them, and shouts that he is going to kill them in the morning because it is too dark now. The blizzard worsens, and Charley kills a buffalo and wraps himself in the hide for warmth. In the final scene, Granger and the Indian woman emerge from shelter to find that Gilson, wrapped in the buffalo hide, has frozen to death during the night, while waiting to ambush them.