The show starred Chuck Connors as Jason McCord, a United States Army cavalry captain who had been court-martialed and drummed out of the service following an unjust accusation of cowardice.

The opening title credits of each episode in the series feature a depiction of McCord's cashiering with the stripping of rank shoulder patches and his Light Cavalry Saber broken in two.

In the pilot episode, "The Vindicator", McCord is confronted by a newspaper reporter (Claude Akins) who wants a follow-up story on the Bitter Creek massacre.

He knows that General James Reed, McCord's mentor, was on a peace mission to meet representatives of the Cheyenne nation at Bitter Creek.

McCord feared that if Reed's reputation were damaged, certain people in Washington, DC, would try to start a new war with the Apaches.

He traveled throughout the Old West, continually confronted by people who refused to believe his innocence, requiring him to prove them wrong.

Other notable guest stars included Chris Alcaide, Russ Conway, Don Collier, Burgess Meredith, John Carradine, Pat Conway, Alex Cord, Janet De Gore, Dolores del Río, Chad Everett, I. Stanford Jolley, Martin Landau, June Lockhart, Warren Oates, Gregg Palmer, Larry Pennell, Burt Reynolds, Lee Van Cleef, Dick Clark, Bruce Dern and Michael Rennie.

The Dude (Jeff Bridges) and Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) have tracked down a teenager named Larry Sellers to his home, believing the boy stole money from a ransom package they were to deliver.

Upon entering the house and seeing the older Sellers in an iron lung, Walter acts with uncharacteristic humility and respect, in large part because of the reverence in which he holds Branded; before exploding into misdirected violence against a stranger's car after an obscene interrogation of Larry fails to elicit any response from the affectless boy.

[9][10] Major League Baseball player Ron Perranoski appeared in a 1965 episode of Branded, while he was a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers.