Vince Majestyk is a farmer, an ex-con, a former U. S. Army Ranger instructor, and Vietnam War veteran, who owns and operates a watermelon farm in rural Colorado. He needs to harvest his crop soon in order to keep the farm financially solvent. A small-time hood, Bobby Kopas, attempts to coerce Vince into a protection racket of using unskilled drunks to harvest his watermelon crop. Vince runs him off with Kopas' shotgun and hires experienced Mexican migrant workers, including Nancy Chavez, a crops picker and also a union leader. They also become romantically attracted to each other, in the process. Later, Kopas brings assault charges against Vince, resulting in him being placed under arrest before he can finish the harvest. In jail, Vince meets Lt. McAllen, who knows a lot about Vince's checkered past, as well as annoying fellow inmate Frank Renda, a notorious mafia hit man. When a transport bus is assigned to take Vince, Renda, and a few other inmates for court sentencing, Renda's men try to break him out as the bus passes through town, killing several officers. In the escape attempt, Vince drives off in the bus with Renda still in handcuffs, eventually taking him to his hunting cabin in the nearby foothills. Vince hopes to trade Renda to the police in return for being released to finish harvesting his melons. Renda offers his captor $25,000 for his freedom, but Vince declines. Renda then threatens to kill Vince if he does not release him and Vince pretends to be persuaded to take the money, but contacts both the police and Renda's mafia contacts to come pick them up. Wiley, Renda's girlfriend, arrives, but they manage to turn the tables on Vince, although he is able to escape out of the car and returns to the police station empty-handed, with McAllen ordering a deputy to escort Vince to a jail cell. Renda learns the charges for which he had been imprisoned have been dropped and meets up with his right-hand man, Gene Lundy, who advises him to fly to Mexico for a vacation and enjoy himself, despite Renda's objections as he wants to take care of Vince personally. After returning, Renda and Wiley are met by Lundy, who introduces them to Kopas, whom Renda instantly dislikes because of Kopas' dishonest nature when Renda notices Vince hired the migrants to pick the melons and discovering some of the deputies disguised as road workers as a stakeout job. Renda orders Lundy to pull over and tells Kopas to get out, informing him that does exactly what Lundy tells him, before Renda and the others drive away. That night, Renda and his men arrive at the farm to kill Vince, but discover he is not at home. They instead rough up the hired hands, forcing them to depart, as well as shooting up the picked melons with sub-machine guns. As Vince and Nancy have a drink at a bar, Renda approaches and tells him he plans to kill him. Instead of being intimidated, Vince knocks Renda down, further infuriating him. When Vince and Nancy return to the farm, a horrified Vince looks at the ruined melons and the next day, his friend and hired hand Larry Mendoza, decides to take what is left of the crop into town to have them shipped to another state, as well as Vince's orders to drop Nancy at a bus station for her own safety. After Larry drops off Nancy, he goes to a train yard to drop the melons off, but is confronted by Kopas and Renda's men. They break his legs by slamming their car into him. At the hospital, McAllen informs Vince that his hired hands may have been responsible for Larry's injury and that the city police put a stakeout on Renda's lodge hideout in the mountains, but he has not been there since. Vince bitterly tells McAllen and his deputies to back off, despite McAllen's assurance that Vince will be killed by Renda, if so. When Vince returns home, he is shocked to see that Nancy hitched a ride back. Lundy goes to collect Renda and arrives back at the farm, where Kopas and the men are watching the house. Vince gets away in the back of his pickup truck driven by Nancy and a chase ensues. Luring Renda and his men into the foothills, Vince turns the tables on them and becomes the attacker, killing most of Renda's men during the pursuit. Realizing they are now the hunted, Renda retreats to the lodge where he, Wiley, Lundy and Kopas hole up to figure out another plan. Renda sends Wiley outside to negotiate with Vince, hoping to force him to show himself, but he sends her away with Nancy to find the police. Vince then assaults the cabin, killing Lundy after Renda sacrifices him to save himself. Disgusted at Renda, Kopas decides to leave when he realizes Renda will also kill him, too, to get to Vince. Kopas runs out and is caught by Vince, who decides to spare Kopas' life as long as he tells where Renda is. Vince jumps through the front window and blows Renda away. Kopas tries to escape in his car, but notices Vince stole the keys. The police, as well as Nancy and the now-arrested Wiley, show up at the cabin and take Kopas into custody. McAllen notices Renda's body and wants to take Vince to the station for questioning. Now satisfied, he declines the offer and he and Nancy drive away in the truck.
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