J. Paul Popkin

A young priest questions his faith after he falls in love with a social worker.

A peace-loving man named Ben Kane takes a job as deputy marshal of Lords, in the old West. Kane is no lawman, but he accepts the badge because he has an old score to settle with the town's chief trouble-maker. Once on the job, Kane must also deal with a young sharpshooter named Billy Young and a sharp and sassy saloon dancer, Lily.

While crossing the desert, a frontier scout, Jess Remsberg, rescues Ellen Grange from a pursuing band of Apaches, and returns her to her husband, Willard Grange. He is contracted to act as a scout for an Army cavalry unit. Willard, Ellen, and her infant son are along for the ride, as is horse trader Toller, a veteran of the 10th Cavalry. The party is trapped in a canyon by Chata, an Apache chief and grandfather of Ellen's baby. Willard is captured and tortured. Jess sneaks away and brings reinforcements just in time to save the day. Jess learns that the man he has been hunting is none other than Willard Grange.

Ex-convict Eddie and his wife, Kristine, attempt to build a new life for themselves and their daughter Kathy in San Francisco, but police officer Mike Vido is determined to send Eddie back to prison.

Maxwell Slaughter is a kind, heavyset guy who has reached the rank of master sergeant in the army. Admired by handsome young Sgt. Eustis Clay, Slaughter forms a close bond with his peer. Clay hopes to convince Slaughter to join him in a business venture outside of the service, but, in the meantime, he introduces the older officer to the beautiful young Bobby Jo Pepperdine, inadvertently creating trouble for both men.

An unemployed construction worker heading out west stops at a remote farm in the desert to get water when his car overheats. The farm is being worked by a group of East European Catholic nuns, headed by the strict mother superior, who believes the man has been sent by God to build a much needed church in the desert.