Joe believes the old regulator, "Long-Shot" Hunter Drago, who did twelve years' hard time because of Mannion, has moved to the town of Del Norte, in the Colorado Territory to kill him. But nearly everyone else in town believes that he merely moved there to take over the Three-Legged Dog Saloon and to begin a new, peaceful life.



Mannion, who doesn't believe in coincidences but does know the nature of "Long Shot's" black heart, doesn't buy a word of it.



The rest of the town, including his lover, Jane Ford, thinks Mannion's just being his old, stubborn, bloody self—especially when he catches Drago palling around with his daughter, Evangeline, and beats the old killer half to death on Del Norte's main street for all to see.



Bloody Joe has finally gone too far. The town's powers-that-be believe it's time for Joe to go.



As the game of cat and mouse continues and Mannion finds himself dodging a veritable lead storm nearly everywhere he goes, he finally finds himself in a bloody showdown on the stone mountain called Burial Rock, where he finds that not only his own life hangs in the balance but Jane's life, as well.



He's going to have to move fast and shoot straight to escape a blood bath . . .