Dan Temple, ex-gambler, ex-drifter, and ex-gunslick, wanted to settle down to ranching and forget his past. But he needed a stake, and it was his gun prowess that brought him a job as shotgun guard with Stella Ramsey's stage line. After two holdups, Temple realized he was up against a man playing for bigger stakes than a mine payroll - a man bent on smashing the Ramsey stage line.