A disparate group of individuals enter a horse race through 700 miles of the Wild West to win a large cash prize. The contestants include two ex-Rough Riders (Gene Hackman, James Coburn), an aging cowboy who refuses to slow down (Ben Johnson), an inexperienced youth (Jan-Michael Vincent), a Mexican (Mario Arteaga), an Englishman (Ian Bannen) and a woman (Candice Bergen). Over the course of the trek, the riders begin to shed their biases toward gender, race and age, and appreciate one another.