BANDOLERO!

A gang of robbers arrive at the Texan town of Val Verde with the intention of robbing a bank. The heist goes wrong and a shootout with the local authorities ensues. During it, gang member Babe Jenkins kills a wealthy civilian, the husband of a woman named Maria Stoner. The gang eventually gets arrested.

Staying at an inn in a neighboring town, a man named Mace Bishop meets the hangman the government sent to execute the gang and learns of what happened in Val Verde. Stealing the hangman's clothes and imitating his way of talking, Mace steals his identity and goes to Val Verde with the intention of freeing his brother Dee, the gang's leader, from the gallows. The day of the execution, he convinces sheriff July Johnson to take every attendant's gun with the excuse of having a safer event and manages to help the whole gang escape. After the gang flees with a posse in pursuit, Mace robs the bank on his own .

Dee decides to take Maria as a hostage after they come across her wagon. The posse, led by sheriff July Johnson and deputy Roscoe Bookbinder, chases the fugitives across the Mexican border into territory policed by bandoleros. According to Maria, bandoleros are men out to kill any gringos (foreigners) that they can find. Maria further warns Dee that the sheriff will follow, because they have taken the one thing that he has always wanted: her.

Despite initial protestations, Maria falls for Dee after he protects her from the others and finds herself in a quandary. She had never felt anything for the sheriff, nor for her husband, who had purchased her from her family. The posse tracks them to an abandoned town and captures the gang. The bandoleros also arrive, shooting and killing Roscoe. The sheriff releases the outlaws so that the men can fight back in defense.

In the ensuing battle, almost everyone is killed. Dee is fatally stabbed by the leader of the bandits, Angel, after Dee beats him when he attempts to rape Maria. Then, Mace is shot by another. Babe and gang member Robbie O'Hare die after killing several bandoleros. Gang member Pop Chaney is killed while going after the money Mace stole, and his son Joe dies after trying to rescue him.

Maria grabs Dee's pistol and shoots Angel dead, sending the now leaderless bandoleros into full retreat. Maria professes her love to Dee and kisses him before he dies. Mace returns the money to Sheriff Johnson, and then falls dead from his wound. Maria and the sheriff, with little left of the posse, bury the Bishop brothers and dead posse members, after which Maria remarks that no one will know who was there. They then begin the ride back to Texas.

A deadly confrontation with Mexican bandits sees most of the gang and posse killed. Maria survives and buries the Bishop brothers alongside the sheriff before returning to Texas.

The film concludes with the inexorable consequences of violence and outlaw life on the frontier—few survive, and those that do are left to bury the past and continue on. Maria’s final words underscore the anonymity and fleeting legacy of those caught between law and lawlessness, while the sheriff and Maria’s return hints at acceptance and the closing of a tragic chapter.