Mackintosh and T.J.
MacKintosh (no first name is ever given) is an aging migrant cowboy drifting from ranch to ranch doing odd jobs along the way with the exception of his World War II service in the Pacific. When passing through a town he sees T.J. (no other name is ever given) a 14-year-old recently released from doing clean up work for vagrancy. Shopping for supplies, MacKintosh sights T.J. preparing to steal an apple being watched by the store owner. MacKintosh pretends the boy is with him and pays for their supplies.
Giving T.J. a ride the two realise they have much in common. Having left his single mother and not having been in school since Dick and Jane books were used (early primary school), T.J. is off to work his way to the Pacific Ocean that he has never seen. When MacKintosh's vehicle breaks down T.J. catches a lift with a well dressed stranger on his way to El Paso as MacKintosh makes his repairs.
Stopping for dinner in a bar that night, MacKintosh sights T.J. working as a busboy in the bar. T.J. explains that the man who picked him up was "funny" that made T.J. leave him as quickly as possible. A drunken loud cowboy named Cal misplaces his money and accuses T.J. of stealing. When Cal strikes T.J., MacKintosh knocks him down. Cal comes after MacKintosh with a knife with MacKintosh knocking him down again by breaking a catsup bottle on his head. Losing his job, T.J. and MacKintosh team up again.
The pair find work at the 6666 Ranch run by Jim Webster where MacKintosh impresses everyone when he breaks horses, works as a ranch hand and gains more money by obtaining cash bounties for coyotes he shoots. T.J. is put to work cleaning up abandoned buildings. The two settle in until accusations are made against MacKintosh for his being too friendly to the wife of his foreman.
cult, murder, violence