It's the late nineteenth century in the Wyoming Territory, known as one of the most lawless regions on the continent. John Goodnight, a traveling circuit court judge, hates lawyers, even when he was one himself, but believes in justice. Such an example of his lawyer hatred is toward Lucius Breed, the leading lawyer in his latest stop of the small town of Rollins. John considers Lucius as corrupt and self-serving as many of the people John convicts. In Rollins, John is reunited with the former Callie Bluepointe, a former flame from their days in Chicago a decade and a half ago. John will learn why Callie stayed in Rollins instead of what was her plan to travel to San Francisco: the birth of her son, Will Donohue. John learns of Will's existence in an auspicious manner: Will is the only person captured among Deke Spradling's gang in their attempted getaway following Deke's robbery of the local bank, the second such in recent memory. Although Callie has not seen Will in a few years after he ran off, Callie stands by Will as being a good boy, which places her standing in Rollins in jeopardy as most of the townsfolk want Will to hang as he is the prime suspect as the gunman who killed one of the townsfolk in a previous robbery by the Spradling gang. John has to protect Will against the lynch mob mentality until Will gets a fair trial. Although not admitting to anything regarding the murder or involvement in the robbery, Will defends Deke in the court of public opinion. Beyond what happens to Will, John knows the town cannot feel safe until Deke is captured. John has to decide whether to trust Will in his search for Deke. He also has to figure out how Callie's information about Will will affect his judgment about how to treat Will in this case, and thus how Will will emerge on the other side, both physically and emotionally.