The year is 1863. The Civil War still rages. Far off in the Arizona desert, captured Confederate soldiers are being held at Fort Bravo by their Union captors. Surrounding them all is the monumental, inhospitable terrain and the implacably hostile Mescalero Apaches. Captain Roper (William Holden) of the US Army drags an escaped Confederate prisoner named Bailey back to the fort on a rope behind his horse. As they enter the grounds, the prisoners in the stockade resentfully glare at Roper. Roper tells his commanding officer that the man had ridden his horse until it gave out and left it to die, then fled on foot before being ridden down. Roper finds that his brutal tactics are unpopular with his commanding officer, his second-in-command Lieutenant Beecher (Richard Anderson), and the post's doctor. The post commander pointedly reminds Roper that the prisoners nearly outnumber the garrison. Roper admits that his actions are designed to intimidate the restless prisoners and keep them in check. Confederate Captain Marsh (John Forsythe) asks Roper for permission to see Bailey, which Roper grants. The young man is in a bad way, exhausted and dehydrated. He apologizes for his foolhardy solo escape attempt but couldn't wait for the pending larger attempt. Some of the more aggressive prisoners question Marsh's delay in staging a larger escape. Roper leads a mounted patrol into the desert to locate an overdue supply convoy carrying rifles to the fort. They find the wagons overturned and burned, the drivers tortured to death on ant mounds. As the slain men are being laid to rest, Roper notices smoke and mirror signals in the distance. An attack is imminent. On the return to the Fort they are ambushed and Beecher takes an arrow to the shoulder as the surprise attack commences. The Mescaleros wheel around the surrounded troopers, inflicting and incurring several casualties. The Apaches soon retreat into the distance and the patrol heads out to the nearest water hole. As night falls, the soldiers make camp and almost immediately hear gunfire. A band of Apaches is pursuing a stagecoach through the desert, with both the shotgun guard and a passenger returning fire. Roper' sends his men to intervene and drive off the attackers. The stagecoach is escorted to the camp, where the beautiful Carla Forester (Eleanor Parker) alights and introduces herself to Roper. She explains that she was on her way to Fort Bravo to see the colonel and his engaged daughter who is soon to be married to Lt. Beecher. Carla dresses Beecher's wound and explains that she went to school with the colonel's daughter, Alice (Polly Bergen). The next evening, sparks fly between the aggressively flirtatious Carla and an amused Captain Roper as she escorts him to his quarters. He agrees to accompany her, when asked, to the post dance the next evening. At the dance, Carla expresses surprise that a pair of Confederate officers have been permitted to attend. One of them is Captain Marsh, who gallantly asks her to dance with him. As they dance closely together, it is revealed that they are in fact lovers, and she has come to the fort to aid in his escape. The breakout is planned for the night of Lt. Beecher's wedding to Alice. Following the dance, Roper takes Carla to see his prized rose garden on the way back to her quarters. Surprised by this softer side of the stern captain, she asks about his late father. He slowly starts to reveal a human side as he falls for her. The next day, Carla and Alice depart for a nearby town to shop for a wedding dress. Roper unexpectedly and inconveniently volunteers to accompany them. Roper and three troopers escort the carriage. In town, Roper accompanies Carla to a dry goods store run by a Mr. Watson, a Confederate sympathizer who has agreed to provide supplies for the escape attempt. While Roper is distracted, she covertly slips Watson a wad of cash and describes the clothing, provisions, horses, and guns that will be required. Watson is to prepare the supplies and on the night of the wedding conceal the escapees in his wagon to leave the fort. After returning to the fort, Roper accompanies Carla on a ride into the beautiful rock formations above the fort. Roper comes on to her and embraces her. She fights him at first but then willingly submits as they kiss passionately. After Beecher and Alice's wedding, Roper tells a conflicted Carla that he in love with her, asking her to stay on and marry him. Meanwhile, the four escapees (including Marsh and Bailey) have climbed into the back of Watson's covered supply wagon. Carla tells Roper that she needs to be alone to think. After he leaves, she runs to the supply wagon and tells Marsh she is going with them. Roper pointedly questions the nervous Watson as he exits with the concealed prisoners and Carla in his wagon. The next morning, the escape is reported. Roper is stunned and bitter at Carla's deception. He is to lead a detail in pursuit of the escapees and Beecher, even though just married, is concerned about Roper's methods and forces his way onto the patrol. Bailey is captured in a saloon, as Roper has judged him to be too cowardly to ride out into the desert again. Another army patrol has been attacked and Roper sends his troops to help them and continues on with just Beecher, the Kiowa scout and Bailey. Out on the desert, Carla seems distracted, and Captain Marsh suspects that she has true feelings for Roper. Roper's pursuit group soon sneaks up on the Confederates' campsite and gets the drop on them. Marsh, upset by losing his girl, hits Roper resulting in a fistfight, with Roper winning handily. Roper gathers up his prisoners and starts back for the fort. Watching from atop the spectacular desert rock formations, the Mescaleros discover Roper's outnumbered party and attack. The group is forced to dismount and take cover in the open in a small defile. Roper arms the Rebs and they acquit themselves well, but the group is hopelessly surrounded and their Kiowa scout killed. As night falls, Bailey bolts from the ditch and flees on one of their horses which has returned. The others curse him as a coward. The following morning, the Apaches attack again, wounding Beecher and one of the Rebels. During the attack, the Apaches curiously bracket the soldiers' position by thrusting lances into the soil around their position. No one knows why. The reason soon becomes apparent as single arrows are carefully lobbed from the surrounding cliffs, registering the distance to Roper's band. Deadly volleys of arrows soon follow, cascading down onto the group. Captain Marsh, Beecher, and others are hit. Two of the Confederates desperately leap from cover to knock down the lances guiding the archers. Both are shot dead. Roper makes his own dash and finishes the task, but the end is near. As night falls, Marsh uses a gun to try to force Roper and Carla to leave together, telling Roper that she fell in love with him and now he has to save her, but Marsh collapses before they can leave. With Marsh and Beecher near death, Roper realizes that his only remaining option is to pretend the others are all dead and break cover himself to face the Apaches and hope they leave the rest to rot and move on. At dawn, he sprinkles Marsh and Beecher with dirt and tells a tearful Carla to play dead. As he walks out of the defile, with two drawn pistols, he is shot twice and collapses. Suddenly, there is a distant bugle call and the Apaches flee past him. The cavalry has arrived. Bailey was not a coward after all; he had ridden to the fort and brought help back. Roper, Carla and Beecher are saved, but it is too late for Captain Marsh, who dies after congratulating Bailey.
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