On December 21, 1866 eighty men rode out of Fort Phil Kearny to support a wood-cutting expedition that had come under attack. The wood was necessary to build the fort. They were led out onto the Bozeman Trail and ambused in the pass by the Sioux and wiped out. The leader of the Sioux tribe was Chief Red Cloud.

Law student Darryl Cooper invites an ambitious D.A. to meet his fraternity brothers in 'the griddle,' a political question and answer session. The D.A. accepts, but soon wishes he hadn't, five years ago, he sent Darryl's brother to the gas chamber. Now, Darryl intends to use the griddle to prove his brother's innocence, and to destroy the D.A.'s career.