This novel is about a woman named Mattie Ross, whose life will be described as the action progresses. At the beginning of her narrative, Mattie Ross is 14-year-old girl and she arrives at Fort Smith in Arkansas to take away some valuables from her murdered father. Since her father bought several horses from the unhappy colonel Stonehill until his death, Mattie tries to persuade the colonel to buy her horses. However, it can be achieved only due to his clearly expressed negotiation skills and process. In addition, Mattie receives the compensation for the theft of her father’s horse.
When Mattie gets to know that the police do not make any efforts to persecute Tom Chaney, her father’s murderer, who escaped from the gang of the bandit Lucky Ned Peppers, she determines to catch the killer by herself. Mattie begs Reuben “Rooster” Cogburn to aid her and she offers him one hundred dollars, which she got after the negotiations with Stonehill, provided that Reuben will be able to arrest Chaney to judge and execute him.
The Texas Ranger LaBoeuf appears in Fort Smith and he searches Tom Chaney, because he killed a Senator in Texas. While Mattie wants Chaney to be punished in Ford Smith for the murder of Frank Ross, LaBoeuf wants to bring him to Texas to get the money, but Mattie is against his idea. LaBoeuf meets Cogburn and proposes to “play ball” with him and receive the money. Since LaBoeuf’s money is much higher than the reward promised by Mattie, Cogburn decides to collaborate with LaBoeuf. However, he makes Mattie to return the money, but Mattie finally concludes that there is still enough time to sue Cogburn with the help of her lawyer. She tries to accompany Cogburn on the hunt for Chaney, riding the horse, which she previously bought from Stonehill.
However, the next day, when Mattie meets the ferries of Cogburn and LaBoeuf, they refuse to take Mattie and leave without her. Mattie manages to swim with her horse through the river and LaBoeuf tries to beat Mattie, but Cogburn prevents him. Now, riding together, they find a small hut, where they meet two bandits of Ned Pepper’s gang. LaBoeuf opens the fire too early, in result of which two members of the gang are killed, but Pepper escapes.
As LaBoeuf is wounded in this battle, the group travels to a small settlement to cure his wound. Then, Mattie, Rooster and LaBoeuf take the road and find the camp of the bandits. Rooster tries to kill Ned Pepper, but he escapes. In the morning near the river, Mattie accidentally meets Chaney. Despite the fact that she manages to shoot at him with the help of her father’s old revolver, Chaney finally manages to captor Mattie to the bandits’ camp. Chaney forces Pepper to abandon him and Mattie, because he threatens to kill her. Without a doubt Pepper leaves them.
After the conflict, Tom Chaney wants to kill Mattie, but LaBoeuf appears and prevents Mattie Ross from killing. When Chaney becomes LaBoeuf’s hostage, they begin to watch Cogburn (Rooster) kill Ned Pepper and all his friends by shooting them with his gun at the considerable distance.
Distracted by the battle in the valley, LaBoeuf and Mattie do not notice that the wounded Chaney rises again and he can finally kill LaBoeuf. However, Mattie manages to shoot Chaney once more, but the force of the shot throws her back and she slumps into the pit, which is full of the poisonous snakes. Although Cogburn quickly comes to the rescue and releases Mattie from the pit, he can no longer prevent Mattie from the snake’s bite in her forearm. Cogburn quickly delivers Mattie to the doctor, who can save the girl’s life, but her arm is amputated. Then, Mattie’s mother appears and supports her daughter in every possible way.
Many years pass and, being an adult woman, Mattie Ross decides to visit Reuben Cogburn in the Wild West. However, she is late for a visit, because Cogburn dies shortly before her visit. Mattie decides to send Cogburn’s body to his hometown, where she places him a large gravestone. Moreover, Mattie Ross makes up her mind to find LaBoeuf and visit him, but she needs to find out, where he lives.
