[3] The film opens in Arizona Territory in the year 1879 with a number of scenes that intermingle to provide glimpses of a handful of the main characters and their backgrounds— Saint John (Gary Douglas Kohn) who is hanging from a noose like a dead man yet still very much alive; the gunslinger Anton Stice (Claude Duhamel) who kills four men over an insult; Chinaman Dan (Peter Shinkoda), a wanted bank robber; and the multifaceted dandy Salt Peter (Louie Sabatasso), a cardsharp looking for the next big game, in this case the tournament in the dusty tent city of Religion.

As the date approaches, dozens of gold seekers – including a spiritual “half injun” named Waylin Smith (Miles Szanto) and his Apache guide (Sam Bearpaw), magician Raven McCabe (William Moore) and carpenter Bobby Shea (Sean Joyce) – arrive from far and wide, happy to imbibe Bill’s hospitality of “beds, booze and broads” when not playing cards.

The madam of Bill’s house is Bootstrap Bess (Holiday Hadley), a woman not to be taken lightly who has fashioned her own designs for the tournament prize—a large ornate cross made of pure gold.

[13] The next stop on the Wagon Trail national tour was the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas, at Slaughter Lane on December 3, 2015,[14] followed by a premiere at Landmark's Sunshine Cinema in the East Village of New York City on January 11, 2016.

Western Religion completed its national tour at Narberth Reel Cinemas 2 in Pennsylvania at a sold out show that broke the house record, while playing alongside Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

[17] Denise Marie Siino of Life in LA Magazine wrote, "Not since John Ford’s 3 Godfathers has a Western film taken a Biblical myth and, along with a host of plot twists and a cadre of colorful characters, successfully reincarnated it for the box office.