Wikel County is unhinged and wild, wrecked by passing civil war. A new judge is sent to straighten up this lawless chaos because the railroad is coming. An ex-military officer, he finds himself locked in a struggle with frontier anarchy. Not just gangs of irregulars from war, but armed, intelligent people who have taken over the town for a last-ditch existence. The county refuses law. This job requires more than a man who can spray lead, he must use other methods. Orthodoxy is ditched as the new law man hammers civilization on. This tale develops some obnoxiously fast twists.