After an extended recuperation in an Army Hospital after a gun blows up in his face, Kevin Bell returns to his home town in the Pacific Northwest. He finds that Gus Atwell, who had served in the Army with Bell, has been spreading lies about him. His former fiancé spurns him and most of the townspeople shun him. After a confrontation with Atwell, Bell and his friend Garry Lord, a down-on-his luck fisherman, are forced to leave town. The pair go to the mouth of the river to await the salmon run. They have a series of good catches, but eventually run afoul of Red Mulligan, whose boats are fishing with illegal nets.