Spots 
Penniless in Tampico, Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin scrape by on odd jobs and lottery tickets. At the dirty flophouse, an old miner named Howard explains that gold does not enrich men so much as corrupt their souls. Howard's tales kindle an obsession that hard labor and bad luck could never spark. A winning lottery ticket provides just enough capital to turn desperate talk into an expedition into the Sierra Madre.
In the remote Durango mountains, Dobbs, Curtin, and Howard construct a sluice box and clear timber to wash dirt for placer gold. Day after day of backbreaking labor produces real yellow dust, turning abstract dreams into heavy physical metal. Howard manages the camp efficiency and divides every grain equally among three hidden caches. As the mountain yield grows, mutual distrust begins to creep into night watch rotations and quiet conversations.
A lone intruder named Lattam arrives at the remote camp, demanding a share of the mine under threat of betrayal. Before internal conflict explodes, a band of Mexican bandits led by Gold Hat attacks the camp. During the violent shootout, Lattam falls dead, forcing the three partners to defend their claim together. Eliminating the external threat leaves the gold safe, yet the death of an outsider deepens the moral isolation of the camp.
After restoring the mountain landscape to appease nature, the trio packs gold onto burros and departs for civilization. Howard leaves temporarily to heal a local village boy, leaving Dobbs and Curtin alone on the trail. Gripped by severe paranoia and hallucinations, Dobbs accuses Curtin of plotting theft and shoots him in the dark. Leaving his companion for dead, Dobbs drives all the gold-laden burros ahead toward the nearest town.
Bandits ambush Dobbs at a remote waterhole, killing him for his clothing and burros while discarding the sacks of gold dust as worthless unrefined dirt. The desert wind blows the scattered dust across the wilderness, returning the gold to the Sierra Madre. Curtin survives his wounds and rejoins Howard among the villagers, where both men laugh at the grim irony of their lost fortune. Freedom from the gold allows Howard to remain as a revered village elder.
Desperation drives three prospectors into Mexican mountains, where greed turns gold into a destructive curse.