A man haunted and changed by war-;whose fingers are equally skilled in the arts of music and death-;Mason Hawke has found a new home in Braggadocio, Nebraska. But a dustup in the local saloon has forced his hand, and now two bodies lie lifeless on the dirty floor-;a situation an unscrupulous cattleman plans to use to his advantage.

Like Hawke, Clint Jessup is running from his past. But Jessup's sins turned him hard and greedy-;and he's willing to drain bone dry a town that's trying to build a future, if it puts an extra dollar in his pocket. The blood of a drifter named Mason Hawke is going to oil his money-making scheme. But it doesn't matter how many killers he sends Hawke's way, because the target plays by his own rules: draw first, shoot fast, and keep watching your back.