14-year-old Mattie Ross's father has been shot in cold blood by the coward Tom Chaney and the girl is determined to bring him to justice. Mattie seeks out the trigger-happy, drunken U.S. Marshal, Rooster Cogburn, and overcoming his objections, sets out with him to hunt Chaney down. Her desire to avenge her father's death demands that she pursue Chaney into Indian territory and find him before a Texas Ranger named LeBoeuf catches him and brings him back to Texas for the murder of another man.