Jeremy Rodock (James Cagney) makes his living by raising horses in the Rocky Mountain valley that bears his name. Anyone foolish enough to steal those horses makes his own dyin.' "Let one buzzard live, and he'll pick your bones clean," explains Jeremy, who - with courtrooms some 200 miles away - dispenses justice his way: with a noose. But that's not the way of Jeremy's companion Jo (Irene Papas), a former honky-tonk queen. She wants him to change, and there's a greener valley somewhere for her if he won't. He will. Swayed by Jo and a recently arrived tenderfoot from the East, Rodock will finally realize that justice requires mercy. There's a lot of good in this bad man.

Shot in the beauty of the Colorado Rockies, TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN, a tense, action-packed Western, was the last of this genre James Cagney was to star in. Easterner Steve Miller (Don Dubbins), making his way west, comes to work for rich, ruthless landowner and horse breeder Jeremy Rodock (Cagney), who doesn't hesitate to hang cattle rustlers and, with Miller's help, run dangerous horse thieves from his land. Rodock is also involved with former dance-hall hostess Jocasta Constantine (Greek film star Irene Papas in her first Hollywood role). With Rodock becoming more vengeful against the horse thieves, he ends up shooting his former partner, the dishonest L.A. Peterson (James Bell). Along with McNulty (Stephen McNally), a disgruntled ranch hand whom Rodock fired for making advances on Jocasta, Lars Peterson (Vic Morrow) conspires to rustle more of Rodock's stock, which leads to disillusionment, violence, and the abandonment of Rodock by Miller and Jocasta. It is only then that Rodock can begin to see his situation clearly and work toward changing it--and his own character.