On an unforgiving, snow swept frontier, a group of bloodthirsty bounty hunters, led by the vicious Loco (Kinski) prey on a band of persecuted outlaws who have taken to the hills. As the price on each head is collected one-by-one, only a mute gunslinger named Silence (Trintignant) stands between the refugees and the greed and corruption that the bounty hunters represent.