Henry Lloyd Moon (Jack Nicholson), is a bandit in the old west who gets captured by the local sheriff and sentenced to hang. But due to a local law, a man to be hanged can be offered up to the women of the town to bid on in exchange for his life. This results in his being bought by Julia Tate (Mary Steenburgen), a widow who is trying to work of her late husband's gold mine. While Henry is glad for the reprieve, he still hopes to get away to Mexico and out of the reach of Deputy Towfield (Christopher Lloyd) and Deputy Hector (John Belushi).