Although Stuart Heisler’s The Burning Hills has a fantastic story with interesting characters, poor acting and an abysmal script bring it down. Not even the wonderful Natalie Wood can bring this script to life.

The film starts out with a man getting shot in the back on a ranch and his horses being stolen. The man is the brother of Trace Jordan (Tab Hunter), the hero of our picture. Trace gets word from one of his ranch hands that the dirty business of horse-theft and murder comes from the nearby town, so he heads in to investigate.

He learns that Mr. Sutton runs everything in town. (Sutton is played by Ray Teal, whose small role is the only noteworthy performance in the film). Trace goes to pay Sutton a visit, and upon his arrival at his gate he notices some of his brother's horses with their brands changed from JJ to JS.

After forcing his way inside, he confronts Sutton, who is very upset about his people being accused of murder and horse thievery. He insists it was no one from his town, but Trace knows better. Trace informs Sutton that since the town has no sheriff, he will head out to bring in the US Military to bring justice to the men that killed his brother.

Sutton cannot allow this to happen, so he takes a shot at Trace, who returns fire and hits Sutton in the belly. On his retreat out of town, Trace gets shot in the side, injuring him severely. He rides as far as he can, and ends up collapsing in a small creek at the opening of an old abandoned mine.

The small creek trickles down the hill and into the valley below where it is used to hydrate the sheep of the ranch on the property. The water stops flowing into the valley because Trace’s body is blocking it. Maria (Natalie Wood) heads up the hill to see what is going on. She finds Trace lying there wounded, and nurses him back to health.