Behold, the Pale Horse. The Man Who Sat upon Him was Death, Hell Followed.

Behold the Pale Horse. And the man who sat upon him was Death. And Hell followed after. These are lines from the Bible that are used to describe Eastwood's character in this film. The movie starts out in a small mining camp in the 1800's. You hear the pounding of hooves, and look up to see many men on horseback trampling through your camp. They basically destroy everything in site. Your father goes to town to get supplies to rebuild the camp when he is attacked by the same group of men that destroyed the camp. The men are in the process of beating your father mercilessly when a stranger appears and shows the men what an axe handle is used for, saving your father's life. Grateful, your father offers the man a nice meal at his home as thanks for saving him. The man accepts and hops on his.....Pale Horse.
The man is at your home, washing up as your mother insists that this man must be a gunfighter and she doesn't want that type around. Just as your parents are arguing, the man comes out dressed as a priest.

HELL FOLLOWS
The priest agrees to stay at your camp awhile and help out. He is also good protection from the group of larger miners that are trying to force your family and the other "tinpanners" off of their claim. More than once, men from this larger group come to bully your family into signing over their claim. This priest, however, ends up doing to them the same thing he did to the men in town. I'll leave the story at there so as not to spoil the ending.
"Pale Rider" is a great movie that spotlights Clint Eastwood as the mystical character. Is he simply a drifter, or is he an avenging angel sent from heaven? To understand more about this you have to watch the movie. I guess the only bad thing I can say about this film is that it takes the basic story of "Shane" and adds more mystical elements to it. But in the end "Pale Rider" ends up not being just another knockoff film, and is able to stand on its own two feet. A great film.