Plot

John Russell, disdained by his "respectable" fellow stagecoach passengers because he was raised by Apaches becomes their only hope for survival when they are set upon by outlaws.

John 'Hombre' Russell is a white man raised by the Apaches on an Indian reservation and later by a white man in town. As an adult he prefers to live on the reservation. He is informed that he has inherited a lodging-house in the town. He goes to the town and decides to trade the place for a herd of horses in Bisbee. The only stagecoach is one being hired for a special trip paid by Favor and his wife Audra. As there are several seats, others join the stagecoach making seven very different passengers in all. During the journey they are robbed. With the leadership of John Russell they escape with a little water and the money that the bandits want. They are pursued by the bandits. As they try to evade the bandits the coach occupants reveal their true nature in a life threatening situation.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Bill G. Walsall England

Pale-skinned, blue-eyed, but reared by the fearsome Apache Indians, taciturn John Russell is a white man who has embraced the ways of the Apaches. His step-father dies, leaving him a boarding house, which he decides to trade for some horses. John finds himself in a dusty stagecoach along with a mismatched septet of passengers, including his Mexican-American friend, Mendez; landlady, Jessie, and the brutal Cicero Grimes. Before long, the travelers will show their true colors, unaware that ruthless bandits have set their sights on robbing them. Now, the only person who stands between the murderous cut-throats and the helpless commuters is John, a man of few words who knows how to handle his deadly rifle. Is Hombre their only chance of survival?—Nick Riganas

It's the late nineteenth century in the Arizona Territory. John Russell was kidnapped by the Apaches when he was a child, they who raised him as Apache. John Russell finds him among the Apaches and takes him in and gives him his name. Russell decided to return to life up in the mountains with the Apache. Russell learns that his step-father has just passed and has bequeathed to him his property in Sweet Mary, which is a boarding house run by Jessie. Russell decides to trade the house for an herd of horses instead of taking Jessie up on her offer to continue it as boarding house. Shortly thereafter, Reverend Alex Favor, the aging Indian agent, and his proper younger wife Audra Favor are anxious to leave town, and with the stagecoach line having just shut down with the onset of the railroad, they, with Audra leading the transaction, decide to buy whatever required from the stagecoach company, including the rig - the only one available, a mud wagon - and the horses, and hire the ethnic Mexican stagecoach manager Henry Mendez to be their driver. They, in turn, offer the other spots on the wagon to anyone wanting a ride. The other passengers are: Russell who is heading to pick up his horses in Contention; Jessie, who has no reason to stay after her male companion, Sheriff Frank Braden, refuses to marry her, young married couple Billy Lee and Doris Blake as Billy no longer has a job as he worked for the stagecoach company and Doris who hated life there anyway; and stranger Cicero Grimes, who seems as eager to be on that specific wagon as the Favors were to get out of town. Early on in their trip, the Reverend learns of Russell's Apache background, and using Mendez as his intermediary, quietly banishes Russell from the inside of the wagon. Russell is instead to travel the rest of the way on top with Mendez. Things take a further turn when they discover the reason Grimes wanted so desperately to be on that specific wagon and threatens the lives of everyone else on board. Russell seems to have the best handle on what to do to get them out of this predicament, with the primary question being what the Favors will do with their specific goals and their view of Russell. Caught somewhat in the middle is Jessie, who cannot witness human suffering no matter what wrong said persons may have done up to this point in life.—Huggo

John "Hombre" Russell (Paul Newman) patiently waits for a black stallion to lead its herd to a waterhole so he can trap the herd. He and his San Carlos Apache tribesmen will sell the horses to a local stagecoach line. Henry Mendez (Martin Balsam) tells John the stagecoach line is shutting down because of the railroad and urges John to return to his White Man's roots and take over a boarding house left to John by his deceased stepfather.

John inspects the boarding house and tells the landlady, Jessie (Diane Cilento), that he intends to trade the place for an herd of horses in Contention and head to Bisbee, Arizona. Alex Favor (Fredric March) and his wife, Audra (Barbara Rush) shows up in town and charters one last stagecoach to Bisbee. Cicero Grimes (Richard Boone) bullies his way onto the passenger list to accompany John, Jessie and the Blakes.

Henry is the stagecoach driver and decides to take the back road to Bisbee because of a suspicious group of men in the area. John is asked to ride on top with Henry when Alex finds out John was raised by the Apache.

Bandits hold up the stagecoach and Cicero is their leader. They take Audra and thousands of dollars from Alex, who embezzled the money from the San Carlos Apaches. As the bandits leave, John kills two of them and recovers the saddlebag of cash. John and the passengers head back towards town through the mountains. They stop at an abandoned mining site and rest in a shack on a hill.

The bandits show up at the mine and Cicero offers to trade Audra for the cash. John shoots Cicero during the negotiation. A bandit ties up Audra, leaving her in the hot sun to die. Audra begs for help and the passengers want to trade the money, but no one is brave enough to go down the hill, except for Jessie. John stops Jessie, gives the cash to a passenger with instructions to return it to the San Carlos Apaches. John heads downhill with the saddlebags. John cuts Audra loose. She heads up the hill, blocking a clear shot at bandit from the shack. The wounded Cicero confronts John and discovers the saddlebag is empty. Cicero, John and the bandit blaze away and all three are killed.