Joe, a humble labourer, has worked hard to marry the girl he loves, Ketrin. On his way to see her, Joe is intercepted by a small-town policeman. Joe is accused of kidnapping a child. Rumours spread quickly and soon a furious lynch mob is gathered outside the prison, ready to carry out the lynching trial. When the sheriff refuses to give Joe up, the townspeople set fire to the jail.Everyone thinks Joe is dead, but he is alive and eager to avenge his alleged killers. In numerous interviews, the director has said that MGM, the studio that commissioned the film, considered it a sub-priority, a "B", maybe even a "C" project, so they loosened the reins of the usually very tight creative control and allowed him to experiment freely. This is likely to be another of the many myths enthusiastically created and spread by Lang. In any case, the first American pancake has not gone to waste: critics unanimously consider Fury to be one of the most important creative achievements of the second half of the director's career.