Jubal Cade figures that sometimes life is like a poker game. The longer the odds, the more a man stands to win. Old Stoby Coltrane wants Cade to keep an eye on pretty Marie, the heiress from California. Her claim on the sprawling Coltrane ranch is a threat to Stoby's interests. Cade had saved her from Kiowa Indians in the badlands. But now he thinks he can smell a vixen in the warm prairie air of Texas. Jubal stands to cash in a million—or else face the fury of Stoby's ranch-hand killers.
So he weighs up the odds. And plays to win.