All across California, a bandit is terrorizing stagecoaches, robbing them of their strongboxes and leaving tantalizing poems at the scenes of his crimes. After this poet highwayman, who calls himself Black Bart, eludes authorities for years, Wells Fargo detective James Hume decides to enlist the services of private investigator Harry Morse. Together they follow the scant clues to unmask the bandit's true identity. Years later, gunfighter-turned-newspaperman Bat Masterson tracks down Hume to hear the story of how Black Bart was finally brought to justice.

When the elusive bandito Tiburcio Vasquez terrorizes the citizens of early Los Angeles County, reporter George Beers asks Sheriff William Rowland for a chance to observe the hunt for the wanted outlaw. Though Beers' objective is simply to document the events, he soon comes face to face with Vasquez and is forced to take matters into his own hands. Can an untested reporter finally take down the vicious killer once and for all? A former gunfighter himself, newspaperman Bat Masterson tracks down Beers to find out how a mild-mannered reporter decided to become a man of action.