When Paladin goes to a mining town to promote a prizefight, his boxer is arrested and he ends up having to take the man's place in the ring -- against the Welsh champion.

Arriving in a weird tent town to return money to a prospector, Paladin finds himself charged with the man's murder and tried by a kangaroo court.

Ben Talman, who has murdered 12 men, escaped from jail. He kills four men in Yucca Bend within one week. Paladin is hired to bring him in.

After being attacked by a puma in the wild, things go from bad to awful for Paladin when he's robbed and left for dead by two men.

Paladin is robbed by scavengers and then forced to cross the mountain in winter without his horse, guns or coat.