The title story finds Ed Thorn, ostracized from stage driving, arriving in the mining community of Ledge, where the Deerfoot Stage Line has become the target of a gang of outlaws. In desperation, Tom Hunter accepts Ed's offer to drive for the line. In "Barbed Wire", Jim Lance occupies a homestead he won in a poker game. But Ed Nugent, a big rancher and chairman of the County Commissioners, has no intention of letting him stay. If Nugent can't burn out Lance and the other small ranchers, he'll ruin them with a new barbed wire law.