Cattle are disappearing from the Crown Butte Ranch, and top hand Lawrence Elwood wants to find out why. It looks like an inside job. And cattle are not the only things disappearing. A few days after buying drinks for everyone in the nearby saloon, a man calling himself Jim Farley also disappears-after a body is found in the livery stable. As Elwood continues to track down the missing cattle, unknown enemies cut the cinch on his saddle, set up a loaded shotgun on the trail he rides, and take shots at him. The punchers he suspected of inside rustling have gone to work for a shady outfit. Elwood now realizes that there is more at stake than a few stolen cattle. One gunman after another comes after him, and to get to the bottom of things, he has to go straight to the outlaw lair.