John Signal is only twenty-two, but he's old enough to have killed a man. It was a fair fight, but the man was well-connected and he's charged with murder. Signal flees to the mining town of Monument, looking for a wrangling job as John Alias. When his horse is stolen, Sheriff Peter Ogden tells him that if he can get it back, he'll make him a deputy. Alias succeeds, and soon finds himself wedged between two bloodthirsty factions that rule the town.