After his herd is wiped out by hoof-and-mouth disease, McCain agrees to serve as an undercover detective for the U.S. government in order to raise enough cash to buy more cattle. He travels to Wyoming to learn the source of the repeating rifles that have fallen into the hands of rebellious Cheyenne Indians.

Micah is terrorized by an old enemy and resigns from his job. When Micah's recurring nightmares drives him back to drunkenness, Lucas decides that the marshal must confront the source of those nightmares - a gunslinger he failed to face down sixteen years before.