John Henry Cole, working as a deputy U.S. marshal out of Judge Isaac Parker’s court in Fort Smith, Arkansas, was on assignment in the Indian Nations when he was shot and seriously injured. Now fifteen years later, employed as a deputy for Judge Roy Bean in Texas, Cole receives a personal summons from Judge Parker to appear in his court within thirty days. Cole isn’t inclined to go, but he knows whatever’s on Judge Parker’s mind is serious and decides he has to go.

Caddo Pierce is operating with a small gang of Creek renegades in the Nations, systematically murdering Indian law enforcement officers, their wives, and families. Parker’s court cannot send any officer into the Nations to pursue a killer unless he has killed a white man, since by treaty the Indian nations alone police criminals who commit crimes against Indians. However, Jimmy Wild Bird, head of the Cherokee police force in Talaquah, has petitioned Judge Parker for help. Cole accepts Judge Parker’s assignment to join forces with Jimmy Wild Bird in riding down Caddo Pierce and his renegade Creek Indian Band.