Set in Mexico under the rule of Emperor Maximilian I, Sabata is hired by the guerrilla leader Señor Ocaño to steal a wagonload of gold from the Austrian army. However, when Sabata and his partners Escudo and Ballantine obtain the wagon, they find it is not full of gold but of sand, and that the gold was taken by Austrian Colonel Skimmel. So Sabata plans to steal back the gold.

Hernandez, the sheriff of a small Mexican village, joins a group of townsmen with the intention of killing young orphan Manuel and robbing him of his inheritance. Killer Luke, now an alcoholic for having murdered his own son by mistake, who is chosen for the task, instead decides to take the defence of the poor child.

The Mexican guerilla leader Tepepa and his gang fight against the chief of police, Cascorro.