Arriving in Cattle Gulch, Lucky Luke runs into an unexpected scene: an apparent crackpot called Ovid Byrde is about to get lynched. The man's revolutionary opinions – animal welfare and the sanctity of life – aren't particularly well-received in this town full of ranchers and cowboys! After Luke intervenes, though, the locals simply ignore Byrde ... until he suddenly finds gold, and a pack of unscrupulous bandits take advantage of the poor idealist to establish a vegetarian dictatorship!