Montana was changing in the 1880s with the passing of the buffalo and the riverboats.  The day of the cattleman was in its ascendancy; and Jess Loudon, drifter, chose to sign up with Peter Frome's Long Nine ranch, for Frome was ambitious and Loudon wanted to walk in his footsteps.  But Frome was faced with a demand for vigilante action against the rustler horde in the badlands beyond, so Frome must be judge, jury and executioner.  Thus a question rose to plague Loudon:  What would it do to a man to take on the power of life and death?