Transporting illegal alcohol over dark two-lane mountain highways, Lucas Doolin (Robert Mitchum) races wildly through the night, crashing road blocks and outrunning ambushes, defying anyone who tries to stop him. "A man has a right to do anything", he says, "including making whiskey, as long as he makes it on his own land". But when ruthless racketeers muscle in on Doolin's territory - and kill one of his men in the process - the Kentucky bootlegger declares war, fiercely determined to maintain his hard-won business and independence...even if it costs him his life.