William Talley is a very unusual breed of gunfighter. He is well-educated, married and father to a poetry-spouting teenage daughter. That doesn't stop an association of ranchers around Dodge from hiring him to kill a rival rancher with his own lofty ideals, but it does lead the rivals into an unusual alliance.

When his uncle kills his father in cold blood, Buck Henry vows to avenge his death, no matter what the cost.