Watch Thunder Over the Plains

Set in 1869, after the American Civil War, Texas had not yet been reitted to the Union and carpetbaggers, hiding behind the legal protection of the Union Army of occupation, are levying high taxes through occupying local government positions and using the locals' financial distress to acquire assets at well below normal value. Federal Captain Porter (Randolph Scott), a Texan, has to enforce the letter of the law against the violent opposition of his own people. He arrests the rebel leader Ben Westman (Charles McGraw) on what he knows is a false murder charge. In trying to prove Westman's innocence, Porter himself becomes a wanted man.