The background to the film is the desert wilderness of 1930s Manchuria. The Bad (a bandit and hitman) is hired to acquire a treasure map from a Japanese official traveling by train. Before he can get it, however, The Weird (a thief) steals the map, and is caught up in The Bad's derailment of the train (complete with slaughter of Japanese and Manchurian guards, and various civilians). The Good (an eagle-eyed bounty hunter) appears on the scene to claim the bounty on The Bad. Meanwhile The Weird escapes, eluding his Good and Bad pursers (and a third force, a group of Manchurian bandits who also want the map) to the Ghost Market. Here he hopes to uncover the map's secrets and recover what he believes is gold and riches buried by the Qing Dynasty just before the collapse of their government. As the story continues, an escalating battle for the map occurs, with bounties placed on heads, and the Imperial Japanese Army racing to reclaim its map as it can apparently "save the Japanese Empire".
After a series of graphic shoot-outs and chases, the Good, the Bad and the Weird are the only three to make it to the "treasure", but find that it is nothing more than a boarded-over hole in the desert. Turning on each other in a final act of retribution or vengeance for the slights they've suffered over the course of the film, they finally gun each other down after a prolonged Mexican standoff. The final scene is of the three lying in the sand, dying and alone, as the "useless hole" they had fought and died for suddenly and belatedly erupts with a geyser of crude oil.
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