John W. "Jack" Burns works as a roaming ranch hand with his horse Whiskey. He carries no identification and has no home address because he just sleeps wherever he finds a place. One day as Burns crosses a highway into town, his horse has a difficult time crossing the road, scared by the traffic. Once over the highway, they visit Jerry, the wife of old friend Paul Bondi, who has been jailed for giving aid to illegal immigrants. To break Bondi out of jail, Burns decides to get himself arrested. After a barroom fight against a one-armed man, in which he too must use only one arm, he is arrested. When the police let him go, he deliberately punches a cop to get put in jail. Bondi is pleased to see him, and Burns defends him from the attention of bullying Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez. At night, the inmates saw through one of the jail's bars using hacksaw blades that Burns had hidden in one of his boots. Gutierrez summons Burns in the middle of the night and beats him. Burns loses a tooth, which he pockets. He cannot get Bondi to escape with him as Bondi has accepted his two-year sentence; his family means he has too much at stake to risk becoming a fugitive, which carries a five-year term. Burns breaks out by himself, returning to Bondi's house, where he picks up his horse and some food from Jerry. They talk about what might have been, and he acknowledges he could never have loved her like Bondi does; he never wanted to settle down. He asks for a kiss to give him the energy to reach the mountains, and they kiss. After the jailbreak, the sheriff learns that Burns served in the military during the
Korean War, including seven months in a disciplinary training center for striking a superior officer. He also received a
Purple Heart and a
Distinguished Service Cross for valor during battle. This gives the sheriff some sympathy for Burns. Burns heads for the mountains, with the goal of crossing the border into
Mexico. The police mount an extensive search, with Sheriff Johnson and Deputy Sheriff Harry searching in a
jeep. A military
helicopter is brought in when the Air Force ask to be allowed to give their pilots some search 'practice'. The aircrew locate Burns and relay his location to the sheriff. Whiskey is repeatedly spooked by the helicopter, so Burns shoots the tail rotor, causing the pilot to crash land. Deputy Gutierrez is on foot chasing Burns. He sees the horse on a corner and raises his gun, telling Burns to show himself, but Burns is behind him and knocks him over. He throws away Gutierrez's weapons and leaves his tooth in Gutierrez's pocket. Burns surmounts the crest of the
Sandia Mountains and escapes into a broad stand of heavy timber. He then tries to cross Highway 66 in
Tijeras Canyon during a heavy rainstorm, but Whiskey is spooked and blinded by the lights. A truck driver strikes Burns and Whiskey and throws them to the side of the road. The sheriff arrives and, when asked by the state police if Burns is the man he has been looking for, says he cannot confidently identify him because he has never seen the man up close. Whiskey is shot (put down), and a shocked Burns is taken away in an ambulance. ==Cast==