Jess is on the hunt for Cal Monett, a job that takes him to the town of Twin Rivers, Texas. He meets a young boy there who is homeless, broke and stealing to survive. Jess misses Monett, who had left town before he arrived, so he continues the hunt. This takes him to the nearby town of Moccasin, where he runs afoul of a rich rancher, Burt Orwell, who has just taken on Monett as one of his hired guns.
After Jess kills Monett in front of Orwell, the rancher offers Jess a job, which he refuses, alienating Orwell even more. Three of the hired guns swear an oath to kill Jess for killing Monett. However, in a twist of events, these men and one more hired gun rob the rancher of twenty-four thousand dollars at night, leaving him with an empty safe and only one hired gun left on his payroll.
Orwell offers Jess a substantial reward to hunt down the four men and get his money back. Jess takes the job and things turn deadly. Three of the men who swore an oath to hunt Jess down and kill him have now become the hunted instead.
Thankfully, Jess has some help from an old friend, the huge timber wolf, Shadow.