Gene Adams sends some of his Bar 10 cowboys to assist the law in protection of his rancher neighbors for outlaws have been using the infamous Badlands to rustle vast numbers of cattle. But the rustlers are far more deadly than Adams had suspected and, during the pursuit, they kill more than half of his men and the posse, including the sheriff. Unwilling to risk the lives of any more of his cowboys, Gene Adams secretly forces the town to make him the new sheriff. And so it is that he heads north and crosses the Red River into the Badlands. Adams has vowed to bring the killers back to face justice or die in the attempt. But for the first time in his long life, he is alone. Does he have the remotest chance of outwitting and defeating his foe?