The murder of his father had brought a cold, violent anger to Matt Ross that time had turned to ice but had not diminished. Now he is sheriff, and he means to get his father's murderer legally - not through revenge. He holds the law above all else, until he realizes that you can't fight a .44 with a muzzle-loading popgun. To get his father's killer and the deadly gang that protects him, then law by force - controlled force - will have to be the only law.