Tim Hogan and Gerard DuBois were childhood friends in antebellum Georgia, but their lives took very different paths after the War; DuBois beccame an outlaw and his onetime friend, a deputy marshal. Now, in 1890, both men are middle aged and it falls to Tim Hogan to hunt down and capture the inseparable companion of his youth. Both men still respect each other and neither is prepared to abandon his honour just to win the battle. Come what may, they will still adhere to the Rattlesnake Code.