Filmed at the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, The Painted Desert follows the lives of two feuding cowboys, J. Farrell MacDonald and William Farnum, who clash over who will raise an orphaned boy they find at a deserted waterhole. Farnum takes the boy, whom he names Bill, but several years later the feud continues, this time over water their adjacent ranches share. Tension escalates until the grown Bill, played by William Boyd, must choose between his adoptive father, Farnum, and MacDonald, who has a lovely daughter whom Bill is fond of. Though not in a starring role, Clark Gable makes a notable debut in his first "talkie" picture as bad guy Rance Brett.