After surviving a shootout in Taylorsville Nebraska and the 1876 influenza outbreak Marshal Joe Mundy is enjoying the summer courting Sarah Welby the abandoned wife of the town's first marshal. Until the killings begin. The cattlemen's association has threatened to campaign against Sheriff Canfield in the upcoming election unless he curtails the area's rustling problem. Canfield's secret solution is a hired assassin a convenient way to eliminate those in his way along with the rustlers. The plan goes awry when a young cowhand is killed and Mundy is expected to stop the killer.