THE GUNFIGHTER centers on Jimmy Ringo (Gregory Peck), the fastest gun who ever lived, which makes him a target for every young man who wants to prove himself. After Ringo kills a young man in self-defense, the dead man's brothers pursue him to Cayenne. Sheriff Mark Strett (Millard Mitchell), Ringo's old friend, tells him he will have to leave because there are too many young men who will risk everything to be able to claim the credit for killing Ringo. Ringo wants to see his wife Peggy and their child, but his enemies are closing in on him. Peggy tells Ringo that if he can settle down in a place for a year without trouble, she will join him. He spends some time with his son, and prepares to leave, happy at the thought of his new life. But a local man is waiting for him, and shoots him in the back. As Ringo dies, he says that he drew first. He doesn't want Hunt hanged. He wants him to suffer as he has, knowing that wherever he goes, there will be someone who wants to be known as the man who shot the man who shot Ringo.