Taw Jackson (John Wayne), a range-hardened rancher who's hell-bent on capturing the infamous War Wagon, an ironclad stagecoach owned by a thieving cattle baron who robbed Taw of his gold years before. To get even, Jackson recruits Lomax (Kirk Douglas), a brash gunslinger, and a raucous crew of misfits and readies them to pull off one of the most impossible heists of all time.