High Plains Drifter follows a mysterious stranger who arrives in the isolated mining town of Lago. The townspeople are living in fear because three criminals are expected to return after being released from prison. The Stranger agrees to protect the town but has his own connection to its troubled past.
The main filming location was Mono Lake in Mono County, California. Clint Eastwood chose the area after scouting locations in California, Nevada and Oregon. A complete frontier town was constructed on the southern shore of the lake specifically for the production. The set included houses, a church and a two-story hotel, allowing both exterior and interior scenes to be filmed on location.
The Mono County Film Commission also lists High Plains Drifter among the productions filmed at Mono Lake.
Additional verified filming locations include Winnemucca Lake in Nevada, Inyo National Forest, the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Universal Studios in Universal City, California. AFI specifically notes that the opening sequence in which The Stranger rides out of the desert was filmed outside Reno, Nevada.
