While Jess would like nothing more than a good long rest after successfully ridding Nebraska of a few vicious outlaws, fate has a way of stepping in to spoil his plans. He’s met up with someone whose company he greatly enjoys, the beautiful but deadly female bounty hunter, Wildcat.
It seems Wildcat has something special in mind, but it doesn’t rest. The usually wild and dangerous territory of New Mexico has gotten much worse and she needs Jess’s help in cleaning out some of the worst gangs in the southern part of the region.
Jess, Wildcat, John Bodine and Shadow all head to the southern part of New Mexico Territory. The only one not wearing a Deputy United States Marshals badge is the timber wolf, Shadow.
The gangs of murderous outlaws who have fled from neighboring states to elude the law have no idea of the trouble heading their way. The killers are about to be treated like they’ve been treating their victims…with ruthless and deadly force.
Before Jess leaves Stratton, Texas, U.S. Marshal Frank Reedy gives him an unwanted assignment. The job forces Jess to go north to the town of Loveland, Nebraska, to hunt two vicious killers, Bernie Crangle and Rueben Gideon.
Jess doesn’t want to go because it’s the time of year when it can get cold in Nebraska. Worse, the only way to get there fast enough in the hopes of getting back to southern Texas, and a warmer climate, is to get on another train. He reluctantly agrees because he owes Reedy a favor.
He makes his way on the hunt for the two vicious outlaws and seems to find trouble around every corner. The train he’s on is carrying a huge gold shipment, guarded by an old friend, Vic Pardo. There are rumors of a robbery attempt and trouble soon follows.
He finally gets to Loveland, and starts his search for the two killers there, but they are leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake. He needs to find them before the list gets longer, but he’s hampered by another bounty hunter and a woman who seems to have an interest in the two outlaws.
After the job is finished, he heads south again, but the snow flies and the cold comes. By the time he arrives back in Stratton, another ally surprisingly shows up and Jess is not sure it’s a good sign or bad. One thing is for sure. He’ll soon find out.
Jess is on the hunt for the vicious Van McLarty and once he puts him down, he takes the body into the town of Palmdale, Texas, where he runs into a very disagreeable county sheriff and the Corker clan. It seems the Corker men think they run things around their area, including the county sheriff.
After his run-in with three of the Corker men, the leader of the group, Hagar Corker, declares war on Jess and the town of Palmdale. The county sheriff rides out of Palmdale and leaves Jess to handle the clan by himself. Lead flies and blood is spilt before a truce can be agreed upon.
After leaving Palmdale, Jess finds himself being held against his will on a moving train owned by a wealthy man by the name of John Roscoe. He offers $100,000.00 to the gunslinger who can take Jess in a duel. The train snakes its way through Texas, New Mexico Territory, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio, where Jess faces some of the deadliest gunfighters no one ever knew existed. His last challenge is with Roscoe, but Roscoe doesn’t play fair.
After teaching Roscoe a lesson, Jess heads to Stratton, Texas for a quick visit, but Reedy has a deadly job waiting for him. One that requires his special set of skills. He has to hunt down a former Texas Ranger who is hiding in a huge forest, and he’s an expert with a sniper rifle. To make matters worse, the Ranger has gone completely mad. Jess goes in, but will he come out?
Jess is on the hunt for Hank Shelly, which leads him to the spot where a stagecoach robbery took place with two men left dead on the ground. He tracks Shelly for a short while from the scene, but Shelly is covering his tracks well.
That takes him to the town of Holly, where he meets a rich rancher by the name of Orton Ruse. He quickly discovers that Shelly, who had previously worked for the rancher, robbed the stagecoach and took one hundred thousand dollars that belonged to Ruse.
Ruse offers Jess a large cash reward to hunt Shelly down and get his money back. Meanwhile, another man, who was inside the stagecoach when Shelly robbed it, decides to go after Shelly himself for the money.
Their paths cross several times and Jess is not sure if he’s a friend or foe, but time will tell as the two men hunt for the elusive Hank Shelly.
After leaving Sister Nadine and the other two nuns at the convent in Oklahoma Territory, Jess is back doing what he does best. He crosses back into Texas and heads to the town of Hoover, where he finds the man he’s hunting, Brian Reed.
While in Hoover, he meets a hired gun by the name of Vic Pardo. Pardo finds the man he was hired to kill and easily dispatches him to an early grave. Not having another job after that, he convinces Jess to let him ride along with him for a while to make some extra money. They make a good team and hunt down some stone-cold killers together.
Along the way, a fast draw expert from Boise, Idaho, confronts Jess. He wants to finish his unblemished career as an expert gunfighter by challenging Jess, but Jess quickly discovers that the gunfighter might love his whiskey more than his reputation.
Then comes Hell Town…