Heartless tycoon Bart Jason (Edward Asner) hires a group of thugs to force the MacDonald family out of El Dorado so he can claim their land. J.P. Harrah, the town's sheriff, is too deep in the throes of alcoholism to help the family. When Harrah's friend, noble elder gunfighter Cole Thorton (John Wayne), learns of the predicament, he travels to El Dorado with his upstart friend, Mississippi (James Caan), to help Harrah clean up in time for a shootout against Jason's men.