Since losing his wife and daughter, Samuel Tucker has wandered, drunk and bereft of a reason to go on. Now in Oregon's Rogue River region, he sees two men gun down a third. After they leave, he takes the dead man's pistol and goes to the next town, where he learns that Payton Farraday, a well-liked local rancher has been murdered -- and becomes a suspect in the shooting. But Emma Farraday, the victim's niece, believes in Samuel's innocence -- and the two set out to prove it.