Three young boys find the Dead Man's Gun and use it to become tough, and to get money by rolling the town drunk. But one of the boy's, whose mother needs money, considers using it to kill his drunken, abusive father, but he can't bring himself to do it. When the bankrobber returns for his gun, he agrees not to kill the boys in exchange for their help in robbing the town's bank. The abused boy learns that he shares some history with the robber, who ended up killing his own father as a boy, which set him on his evil path. The robbery goes awry when the bank manager recognizes one of the boys, and they have a choice to make: they decide to save the manager and foil the robber's getaway by setting him on fire, but it's too late for the boy's father, who is shot by the robber when he discovers the goings-on and screams for help.
In the end, they realize that they don't want the gun any more, and that their small town isn't so bad after all. The grateful manager decides not to press c
