Paladin goes after a killer to get the $5,000 reward, and discovers that the killer is an ex-slave who is more sympathetic than the gunfighter expected.

Paladin is hired by the railroad to bring in an outlaw, Curley Ashburne. However, Paladin and the marshal in charge, Lyle McKendrick, are stranded in a snowbound cabin with Curley and a young girl... and Curley has enough money to buy and sell them all.