After leaving the town of Woodward, Texas, and his secret sister, Beth Sloan, Jess is back on the hunt for Arnie Boseman, who has continued to escape his grasp.
His hunt takes him to Webster, Texas, but he misses Boseman once more, and the killer has resumed his killing spree yet again.
While in Webster, the Texas Ranger whose wife was Arnie Boseman’s first kill shows up in town. He gives Jess no choice but to let him join the hunt. The Ranger, Terrance Whittle, is so grief-stricken that he becomes erratic, putting both their lives in danger.
Jess has to continue the hunt for Boseman, and at the same time keep the Ranger from doing something he’ll regret later. After finally sending Arnie Boseman to his grave, Jess receives a message from United States Marshal Frank Reedy. John Bodine was expected back in Stratton after helping Jess in Woodward but never showed up.
Jess drops everything he’s doing and follows his back trail. He finds Bodine, who had been ambushed and left for dead but now John can’t remember anything.
Jess hunts for the men he thinks are responsible with the help of the wolf named Shadow.
Jess leaves Hartfield, Texas, on the hunt for Whitey Mugler. After dispatching him to his grave, he finds himself in Campbell, Texas.
While there, he sees two Texas Rangers transporting a vicious murderer named Arnie Boseman to his hanging in Austin, Texas. They leave Campbell and Jess follows the same trail the Rangers were on with their prisoner.
He finds the camp they used. The two Rangers have been murdered. Jess begins his chase for the killer, Arnie Boseman, but the hunt proves difficult.
After missing him several times, with Boseman leaving a trail of bodies in his wake, Jess receives an urgent message from his half-sister, Beth Sloan, in Woodward, Texas.
He breaks off his hunt for Boseman and heads directly to Woodward and his secret sister, Beth.
Jess is hunting the dangerous killer, Murry Lander, which takes him to Hillsboro, Texas. When he arrives, he discovers that two men have just gunned down the town mayor.
He tracks the two killers to the town of Mason and discovers that Lander has also been there. Meanwhile, another bounty hunter shows up looking for Lander.
A young girl named Sissy arrives on the stagecoach. Jess finds himself saddled with her and her quest to find her brother. If that isn’t enough to deal with, he ends up helping another woman, Marybeth, who has been held against her will for years.
He feels obligated to help Sissy find her brother and help Marybeth find a new life, but there’s a chance he might have to kill Sissy’s brother when he finds him.
Jess leaves the Arnold sisters behind in Menard and travels to Ashland, Texas, in search of Theo Hinkle. Then his hunt takes him to Richmond, Texas, where he meets a rancher by the name of Gene Harvey, along with his promiscuous wife, Emily.
While on the hunt for yet another man, he learns that Emily has been kidnapped by three men, one of whom he knows.
He agrees to track down the kidnappers and rescue Emily, but the job isn’t easy.
He gives one of his wanted posters to Audie Dunlap, another bounty hunter who wanted to go after Emily. Dunlap gets himself killed and Jess feels a little responsible. He makes a difficult decision that might put Emily’s life at risk.
Jess leaves Calcutta and heads to the town of Menard on the hunt for Derik Bartholin. While there, he runs into two rather strange-acting men. Feeling confident that they robbed the bank in the town of Tecumseh, he follows them out of town and arrests them.
After Jess brings them to Menard and locks them up, a sharp attorney gets the charges dropped. Jess is stung by the law he swears to uphold. Frustrated, he heads back out to hunt for Bartholin.
He returns to Menard and finds two sisters, Betty and Susan Arnold, badly beaten by Susan’s husband, Mack Burden. He promises to hunt down Burden and bring him to justice. Then, he gets an assignment from United States Marshal Frank Reedy. He is to find two escapees who were being transported to the Huntsville State Penitentiary and deliver them to the nearest jail…alive.
Along the way, he runs into another professional bounty hunter who is after the same two escapees. Jess is concerned that he’ll end up hauling Burden to Menard alive at the same time that he hauls the two escapees to jail. The idea of tending not just one, but three criminals stretches his patience to the limit.