Summary
In the arid landscape of Arizona, Fred Saunders lives under a self-imposed handicap that has earned him the moniker 'Lone Hand.' A former surgeon haunted by a personal tragedy—the death of his sister under his own knife—Saunders has vowed never to use his right hand again, a psychological shackle that makes him a target for the opportunistic. When the Bar Nothing Ranch is infiltrated by the devious Buck and Charlie, they see Saunders' eccentricity not as a tragic burden, but as a weakness to be exploited. The plot thickens when Saunders rescues Buddy, a crippled orphan, and places him under the care of Alice Mills, finding a surrogate family that challenges his isolation. However, when a series of stagecoach robberies occurs, Saunders' refusal to use his right hand becomes the very evidence used to frame him. As the town turns into a lynch mob led by the real culprit, Buck, Saunders must choose between his traumatic vow and the life of the boy he saved. The film culminates in a high-stakes surgical procedure where the scalpel becomes as vital as the six-shooter, forcing a confrontation that is as much about inner redemption as it is about frontier justice.
Synopsis
Buck and Charlie, two hard-boiled cowboys, arrive at the Bar Nothing Ranch in Arizona and determine to take advantage of the peculiarity of the owner, Fred Saunders, known as "Lone Hand" because he never uses his right hand. Saunders rescues Buddy, a crippled boy, in the desert and places him in the town orphanage under the care of Alice Mills; but Saunders is accused of robbing the local stage. The sheriff, however, refuses to believe his friend is the culprit. Saunders reveals to Buddy that he is a surgeon, and that because his sister died before he could operate on her, he vowed never again to use his right hand. The stage is robbed again and the driver killed, infuriating the town against Saunders, who seems to fit the bandit's description; and Buck, the real culprit, leads a posse to him. Saunders persuades the posse to wait until he operates on Buddy, then tricks Buck into a confession, which Alice corroborates.
