Brockley Whin arrives in Blackwater with a reputation as a gunfighter, but whose side is he on in the growing struggle between the biggest ranch, the Forked Lightning, and the smaller ranches, led by Jubal Crossan of the Circle C? His former compadre, Amery Tasker, runs the Forked Lightning, but, much as old loyalties count, from the moment he rescues young Jeb Crossan and his girl from Tasker's gunslicks, Brockley has a tough choice to make. Making that choice and following it through leads him to a decisive shootout before his final face-to-face encounter with Tasker and his own past.