After some bad publicity involving a shooting, Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens' boss transfers Raylan from Miami to Lexington, Kentucky. Under Chief Deputy Art Mullen, an old friend from the academy, Raylan takes on the case of the murder of a young white supremacist who is linked to a church bombing. The chief suspect is Boyd Crowder, a childhood friend of Raylan's. In order to catch him, Raylan returns to his hometown of Harlan. Boyd gives Raylan an ultimatum: leave Harlan within twenty-four hours or be killed. After a tense confrontation at an old acquaintance's house, Raylan gets the drop on Boyd and shoots him in the chest, though he survives and is hospitalized.

Raylan starts to work with Arnold Pinter, a local informant who makes money ratting out people to the US Marshals and taking sports bets. Pinter's collector and a debtor decide to work together and kidnap Pinter to find out where the informant's "escape money" is. Raylan grows suspicious after he can't find the informant. The debtor kills the collector, and not long after Raylan shows up. A gunfight ensues, and Raylan kills the debtor and rescues Pinter despite getting shot in his bulletproof vest. Pinter gets his money, and Raylan gets a week's paid leave—a time that Art says will be restful—for Art.