When an innocent man barely survives a lynching, he returns as a lawman determined to bring the vigilantes to justice.

Jed Cooper: You don't remember me, do you?
Reno, Cooper Hanging Party: No.
Jed Cooper: [showing his hanging scar] When you hang a man, you better look at him.
Jed Cooper: You're lynching those boys. Why?
Judge Adam Fenton: Why? Because of you, Cooper. Because of that beautiful, that magnificent journey you took to bring three killers to justice. Because if the law didn't hang them, the next posse that goes out will say, "Hang 'em and hang 'em high, there's no justice in Fort Grant." And if there's no justice in Fort Grant, Cooper, there will be no statehood for this territory.
Miller: You ain't never gonna get me alive to Fort Grant, boy.
Jed Cooper: Then I'll get you there dead... boy.
Judge Adam Fenton: You think I judged him too harshly? Used him for kindling my fire of justice? Well, maybe that's inevitable when there's only one man, one court, with the power of final justice over a territory that's five times the size of most states. Mistakes? Oh, I've made 'em, Cooper. Don't you doubt about that. Don't you doubt, either, there are times sitting up there in that judgement seat I wished, I prayed, that there was someone standing between me and God Almighty - someone with the power to say, "You're wrong, Fenton. You've made an error in law - that this man deserves another trial, this man here a reprieve, this man is innocent." But until this territory becomes a state with a governor and a state court of appeals, I am the law here - all the law. If you don't like that, you can cuss me till hell freezes over... or you can join me, Cooper; even fight me. Help me turn this God forsaken territory into a state where no one man calls himself the law.
Francis Elroy Duffy, Prisoner: Now Preacher?
The Preacher: You may say your piece now.
Francis Elroy Duffy, Prisoner: You're now looking, for the last time, at the mortal body of Francis Elroy Duffy, born to John and Edna Duffy, good, God-fearing folk. Who raised me up to be a good man and a good Christian, and I was a good Christian, a good husband to my beloved wife, good father to my children, who I leave behind, hoping that they, and all you, will learn this here lesson which I leave you with. When you take the devil into your mouth, you're doomed! For he is lying there in wait for you inside that bottle of whiskey. Waiting for you to take him into your mouth. Waiting to get down into your guts where he can do his devil's work. Liquor is the most foul, evil thing in this here world. It destroyed good men like myself. It'll destroy you too. Beer is not much better - it's slower, cheaper. So take these words of advice. And remember, you heard them from a poor sinner, got no more cause to lie, 'cause he's going to meet his Maker. Now he's ready. Well that's all I've got to say.
Jennifer, the Prostitute: I wanna see the hangin'!
[as Cooper drags her off to bed]
Jed Cooper: Well, I don't care how you slice it - whether there's nine men out in the plains with a dirty rope or a judge with his robe on in front of the American flag - those boys are going to be just as dead as if they'd been lynched.
Judge Adam Fenton: That's right, Cooper, just as dead - but they won't have been lynched. They would have been judged. And if you can't see the difference, you'd better take off that star right now!
Prisoner: Always uses top grade hemp, Schmidt does. He oils it so it slides read good. Snaps your neck like a dry twig.
Judge Adam Fenton: [hands Cooper a cup of coffee] Here, if that hangin' rope didn't kill ya, maybe my coffee will.
Rachel Warren: We all have our ghosts, Marshal.
Captain Wilson, Cooper Hanging Party: All right, now that makes three mistakes we've made. The money, we hung an innocent man, and we didn't finish the job. We can't undo the first two... but we can still finish the job.
Schmidt, the Hangman: You haff last request?
Prisoner: Sure would like me a chaw of tobacco. Whats the matter, hangman; afraid I'll choke to death and you'll lose your hangin' fee?
[Schmidt gives him a chew]
Prisoner: Umm! Put it in my pocket
[Schmidt complies and starts to put the hood over the prisoner's head]
Prisoner: Umm! Umm!
[spits out tobacco juice and then nods]
[Repeated Line]
The Prophet: They've come to kill the Prophet.
[after rescuing Cooper from being lynched]
Marshal Dave Bliss: Some people call this hell, but you're still in Oklahoma Territory... Save your breath. I don't know who hung you or why, but if you're innocent, the judge will set you free. And if you're not, we'll have to take the trouble to hanging you again.
Judge Adam Fenton: Nineteen marshals and one court to commandeer 70,000 square miles. A happy hunting ground filled with bushwackers, horse thieves, whiskey peddlers, counterfeiters, hide peelers, marauders - they'd kill you for a hat band. Now that's why there's a badge in my desk, Cooper, itching to sit on somebody's chest... and no takers!
[first lines]
[to a calf]
Jed Cooper: I'm gonna have to carry ya, huh?
[reading Cooper's bill of sale]
Captain Wilson, Cooper Hanging Party: Mr. Maddow, is that Joe Hansen's mark?
Maddow, Cooper Hanging Party: Joe Hansen didn't have to make his mark - he can write as well as you can.
Captain Wilson, Cooper Hanging Party: Hang him.
Judge Adam Fenton: Pick up the badge, Mr. Cooper.
[Cooper glares at Fenton]
Judge Adam Fenton: Pick up the badge or leave justice to me and my men.
Judge Adam Fenton: So that's how it is, huh? That Rachel lit a fire in you with that rich body of hers. You lit a fire in each other. Now you're gonna get married, raise cattle and kids, devil take the rest of the world.
Jed Cooper: Maybe.
Judge Adam Fenton: You used the law and a badge to heal that scar on your neck.
Jed Cooper: Well, how many men are you going have to hang to heal your scar?
Judge Adam Fenton: Go to hell, Cooper.
Jed Cooper: I've already been there, judge, in your wagon and that hole you call a jail.
Captain Wilson, Cooper Hanging Party: Alright, drop your gunbelt.
Jed Cooper: What is this all about?
Loomis, Cooper Hanging Party: The captain said to drop your gunbelt.
Captain Wilson, Cooper Hanging Party: Now.
Jed Cooper: They'll be no hanging here.
Cowboy: These men killed my father and brother. They're gonna get what's coming to 'em.
Jed Cooper: They're gonna get what the law says is coming to 'em.
[last lines]
Judge Adam Fenton: Cooper, Charlie Blackfoot was seen in the town of Ridgeway. I got two unfilled warrants here for Blackfoot and Maddow. The law still wants 'em.
Schmidt, the Hangman: [During Duffy's speech to the crowd] You haff last request?
Cigar smoking prisoner: [Spitting out cigar] Yeah, tell him to shut up and let's get this over with.
Captain Wilson, Cooper Hanging Party: Let's ride, gentlemen.
Jed Cooper: Seems like you're a man trying to give away money and don't have too many takers.
Judge Adam Fenton: You sound like a man protesting the pay is too high. Don't.