When U.S. Marshal Piedmont Kelly is asked by Cochise Sheriff John Henry Stevens to look into the suspicious activity of three unsavory bounty hunters, he rides into what looks like a battle's aftermath. Bullet holes riddle a ranch house, but there's no sign of those engaged in the gunplay. Nor is there any sign that the mysterious resident of the ranch house fits the description of the bounty hunters' quarry. There's nothing he can do but to go looking for the missing man. Enlisting the tracking skills of his old friend Spotted Dog, the Chiricahua Apache whose life he once saved, the pair follow four horses from the rancher's house all the way to Desert Belle, a dusty town that holds grim memories for Kelly. They ride straight into a deadly game where $50,000, several lives, and the survival of the Gilded Lily mine are at stake.