A widower finds a runaway whore in a collapsed sod house on his Kansas ranch. She's splattered with blood - not her own - and he's not interested in taking her in or helping solve her problems; but Jake can't leave Mary to who- or whatever is chasing her. By the time he realizes it's too late, his wife's ghost and the Dakota Territory sheriff who'd like to send Mary to join her make it impossible for Jake to let Mary go. That leaves just two problems: how can Jake make the sheriff abandon his obsession without killing him? And how can he convince Mary - and himself - that it's possible to be happy again?