Will Penny, an aging cowpoke, takes a job on a ranch which requires him to ride the line of the property looking for trespassers or, worse, squatters. He finds that his cabin in the high mountains has been appropriated by a woman whose guide to Oregon has deserted her and her son. Too ashamed to kick mother and child out just as the bitter winter of the mountains sets in, he agrees to share the cabin until the spring thaw. But it isn't just the snow that slowly thaws; the lonely man and woman soon forget their mutual hostility and start developing a deep love for one another.
Charlton Heston
as Will Penny
Joan Hackett
as Catherine Allen
Donald Pleasence
as Preacher Quint
Lee Majors
as Blue
Bruce Dern
as Rafe Quint
Ben Johnson
as Alex
Slim Pickens
as Ike Wallerstein
Clifton James
as Catron
Anthony Zerbe
as Dutchy
Roy Jenson
as Boetius Sullivan
G. D. Spradlin
as Anse Howard
Quentin Dean
as Jennie
