During the
American Civil War, teenaged
Wyatt Earp lives on his family's farm in
Pella, Iowa, while his older brothers
Virgil and
James serve with the
Union Army. Wyatt attempts to run away, intending to lie about his age and join his brothers in the war, but his father catches him. His brothers return home at the war's end, with James gravely wounded, and the family moves west to start over. Wyatt sees a man being shot dead in a duel and vomits at the sight. Years later, a teenaged Wyatt works as a wagon driver and earns extra money by acting as a referee for boxing matches. A bully tries to shoot him after a drunken argument, but Wyatt disarms him, taking his gun. Returning home to
Missouri, Wyatt marries his childhood sweetheart, Urilla Sutherland. They move into their own house, and he begins working as a lawman. Months later, his pregnant wife dies from
typhoid fever. After staying by her side through the illness, Wyatt becomes deeply depressed. Burning their home and possessions, he begins drinking and drifts from town to town, landing in
Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He robs a man and steals his horse but is quickly arrested. With Wyatt facing certain hanging, his father bails him out of jail, telling him to never return to Arkansas. Working as a buffalo hunter, Wyatt befriends
Bat Masterson and his brother
Ed Masterson. Years pass, and Wyatt becomes a deputy marshal in
Wichita, Kansas, building a reputation as a man unafraid to enforce the law. He is recruited to work for the police force in
Dodge City, with a lower salary but earning extra money for every arrest. Wyatt becomes romantically involved with a prostitute,
Mattie Blaylock, and persuades the Mastersons to come on as his deputies. Wyatt believes Ed is too passive, but the Dodge City council fires Wyatt for repeated complaints of
excessive force, appointing Ed to take his place. Wyatt starts working for the railroad to catch robbers. Pursuing outlaw
Dave Rudabaugh, Wyatt is introduced to gunman and gambler
Doc Holliday in
Fort Griffin, Texas, and the two become friends. Holliday assists Earp in locating Rudabaugh, whom he dislikes tremendously. Wyatt receives word that Ed has been killed, having shot and killed both his assailants before dying in the street. Wyatt returns to Dodge City and soon after kills his first man, witnessed by actress
Josie Marcus. Despite his brothers' wives' and Mattie's protests, Wyatt moves the family to
Tombstone, Arizona and immediately finds himself at odds with the outlaw Cowboy gang. He becomes romantically involved with Josie Marcus, angering her boyfriend
Sheriff Behan and stressing his relationship with Mattie, and becomes the subject of rumor about town. Wyatt and his brothers
Morgan and Virgil arrest several Cowboys, and Virgil assumes the post of head marshal following the murder of
Fred White by
Curly Bill Brocius. Tension builds between the brothers and the gang as Wyatt breaks up several altercations involving the Cowboys, particularly
Ike Clanton, and Holliday swears his loyalty to Wyatt, whom he considers his only real friend. The
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral makes the brothers very unpopular in town as many citizens feel that they deliberately provoked the shootout. Virgil is ambushed and wounded, and Morgan is killed. In the
Vendetta Ride, Wyatt forms a posse with his friends to hunt down and take revenge against the remaining Cowboys. Many years later, Wyatt and Josie mine for gold in
Alaska. A young man on the same boat recognizes Wyatt and recounts a story in which Wyatt had saved the boy's uncle, "
Tommy Behind-The-Deuce". Wyatt says to Josie, "Some people say it didn't happen that way", to which she responds, "Never mind them, Wyatt. It happened that way." An
epilogue states that Holliday died six years later in a hospital in
Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Members of the Clanton gang continued to die mysteriously for years after Morgan's murder. Josie and Wyatt remain together for 47 years until Wyatt died at age 80 in
Los Angeles. ==Cast==