U.S. Deputy Page Murdock rides into the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana in the dead of winter to bring in Bear Anderson, known as "Mountain That Walks" to the local Indians. Murdock, having grown up with Anderson, figures he owes it to the man to try to bring him in alive and give him a chance at a fair trial. But Murdock may have all he can handle in getting himself back down alive. Deputy U.S. Marshal Page Murdock isn't happy when Judge Blackthorne decides to send him on an assignment to north Dakota. He passed through the territory once before and is not eager to return to a land of sudden blizzards and spring floods. And to make matters worse he has been handed the nearly impossible job of apprehending the renegade Cheyenne leader Ghost Shirt, who is responsible for several massacres in the area.