Wisecracking ladies' man Bret Maverick and his more serious brother Bart are two handsome bachelors on the loose in the wild west. They have more success at the game of poker than the game of love. Yet they keep trying their luck in one frontier outpost after another.

The Mavericks are well groomed gamblers who travel from town to town looking for a good game of poker. First seen as a drama, the show developed a sense of humor in later episodes.

Set in the mythical town of Medicine Bow, Wyoming in the 1890's, the show chronicled the lives and relationships of the people who came West and settled in the wild land.