Heavy-going saga of Texas in 1845 when the big question was whether it should become part of the United States or remain a republic. Clark Gable is the rancher favouring statehood, dispatched by Andrew Jackson (Lionel Barrymore) to scupper any possible deal with the Mexicans. His main adversary is Broderick Crawford, a staunch republican senator, while Ava Gardner is the newspaperwoman caught in the middle. Some brief but well handled action sequences aren't enough to compensate for the verbose and confused script by noted western writer Borden Chase and the dreary direction by Vincent Sherman.

Cattle baron Devereaux Burke is enlisted by an aging Andrew Jackson to dissuade Sam Houston from establishing Texas as a republic. Burke must fight state senator Thomas Craden, in the process winning the heart of Craden's newspaper-editor girlfriend Martha Ronda.