Plot
In 1922, in an unnamed country south of Mexico torn by revolution, Emmet Keogh, an Irish patriot and political assassin, is coerced into transporting a truckload of Scotch whiskey for Englishman, Jennings. Along the way, he helps American Catholic priest, Father Oliver Van Horne, who has a flat tire and later, his car stuck above rocks. However, when Keogh reaches his destination, the man he was to deliver the cargo to is dead, killed by Colonel Santilla's men. The men are also about to have their way with a mute Aymara Indian woman named Chela. When Keogh tries to stop them, they decide to hang him. Van Horne shows up just in time, and proceeds to kill Santilla's men with a machine gun except for one who escapes to inform Santilla. Van Horne, Keogh and Chela flee, but are later caught.
After subjecting Keogh, Van Horne, and Jennings (who was actually smuggling arms, not whiskey) to a mock execution by a firing squad, Santilla offers to spare them if they will assassinate Tomas de la Plata, who lives with his mother in a well-protected region in Mojada, which is under his control. He offers them equal shares of $53,000, found in Van Horne's suitcase. Santilla has already wrangled an invitation for Keogh and Jennings, posing as mining company employees, as de la Plata is anxious to reopen a silver mine. On the way, Keogh meets Aymara Chief Nacho and is reunited with Chela, who gives him a necklace. Unbeknownst to Keogh, the Aymaras are a matriarchal society, and women choose their husbands; they are now married.
Once there, Van Horne sets about cleaning the church, assisted by orphaned choirboy, Pablito, while Keogh and Jennings dine at de la Plata's hacienda. De la Plata, however, hates priests, and several have been killed in town. The next morning, Keogh and Jennings pretend to inspect the mine, while Van Horne comes along to bless it. There is a cave-in, and the three men rescue Senora de la Plata and several miners except one dying man.
Van Horne defiantly declares that he will hold a mass for the deceased at 4 p.m. in the afternoon to lure de la Plata into an ambush, but when Senora de la Plata shows up for the mass, he aborts his plan. De la Plata spares Van Horne once at his religious mother's insistence, who shields him from her son's hatred, but forbids him to perform any priestly functions. It is revealed that during Mojada's liberation in his absence, de la Plata's father was brutally murdered and his sister (who later committed suicide out of shame) and mother were violated by Santilla's men, while the corrupt local priest stood by and did nothing.
Van Horne tries again, announcing that he will hold a procession at 9 a.m. the next morning. He also tells the townspeople he will perform marriages, masses, communion, sacraments, and baptisms and hear confessions that night, hoping that they will be grateful enough to join the trio into taking up arms against de la Plata. (It turns out that Van Horne actually was a priest, and a devoted one at that, until a corrupt bishop embittered him.)
The next morning, some of de la Plata's men are killed, but their leader is only wounded and escapes. Later, Nacho, all wounded, comes to inform the three men that de la Plata has taken hostages, including Chela and Pablito, and threatens to shoot them, one by one every half hour, until Van Horne comes to him. Jurado, de la Plata's second in command, brings Pablito into Mojada and shoots him down in cold blood before Van Horne's eyes. Van Horne, who was about to flee, changes his mind and gives himself up. He manages to kill someone he thinks is de la Plata, but it is only a double. However, Keogh, Nacho, and several Aymara men sneak in to save Chela, the only hostage kept in to be used as bait; the former blasts the main entrance with grenades, weakening the doors enough for Jennings to drive Van Horne's car through them. The townspeople follow. In the ensuing fight, Jennings is mortally wounded by both de la Plata and Jurado whereas Jurado is mortally wounded by Nacho. Jennings blows himself and Jurado up with a grenade. De la Plata is about to kill Keogh until he is shot by his own mother. He stumbles out and collapses near the stone cross Van Horne has been tied to. Van Horne manages to topple the cross onto de la Plata before the latter tries to shoot someone in a final attempt, killing him. Everyone tends to Van Horne and Keogh's wounds as church bells are being sounded across the distance.
