Few Texans believe the notorious gunman John Wesley Hardin, who has killed more than thirty men over a ten-year period, will ever be captured, but on a fall day in 1878 he enters the Huntsville prison to serve a 25-year sentence for murder. Witnessing the arrival is convict Garland Quick who, though he's sworn to never again love a desperado, is immediately taken with the handsome 25-year old killer. When the two men are thrown together at work in the wheelwright shop, a relationship begins and Gar is drawn into Hardin's escape attempt, only to pay a price for its failure. Complicating things is lifer Jim Scanlon, Gar's cellmate and sexual partner, who, unlike most others, does not look kindly on the charismatic Hardin. As years pass, feelings deepen, yet Gar faces an unexpected challenge when Hardin takes up law study and lobbies for a pardon he just might get.