Will Santee, his mother, and his younger sister join the wagon train under a false surname after many towns forced them out due to the terrible actions of one family member.

Flint visits Eleanor Culhane, his former love interest who subsequently married a notorious gunman. Towns people avoid her. Believing her husband had been dead for years, Flint begins seeing her, when her husband returns. Flint realizes there is another side to Eleanor that he was unaware of as well.