The story centers on two brothers on the run from a posse, led by a local sheriff who wants to arrest the runaways and free a hostage whom they took along the way.

Staying at an inn in a neighboring town, Dee's brother Mace Bishop meets the hangman the government sent to execute the gang and learns of what happened in Val Verde.

The day of the execution, he convinces local sheriff July Johnson to take every attendant's gun with the excuse of having a safer event and manages to make the whole gang escape.

The posse, led by sheriff Johnson and deputy Roscoe Bookbinder, chases the fugitives across the Mexican border into territory policed by bandoleros, whom Maria describes as men out to kill any gringos (foreigners) that they can find.

Gang member Pop Chaney is killed while going after the money Mace stole, and his son Joe dies after trying to rescue him.

Maria grabs Dee's pistol and shoots Angel dead, sending the now leaderless bandoleros into full retreat.

In the Lonesome Dove miniseries, the main characters twice pass directly in front of the Alamo—or at least a set built to replicate the Alamo.

Raquel Welch later said of her performance, "No one is going to shout, 'Wow it's Anne Bancroft all over again', but at least I'm not Miss Sexpot running around half naked all the time.

Because of Martin's exclusive contract with Reprise Records, all traces of him were removed from the cover, even the artwork, despite the album being strictly instrumental and his voice never being heard.