As payback for his role in helping a Territorial Judge get reelected, Sam Chapman was hired on as a U.S. Marshal with a mandate to arrest the long riders who were terrorizing gold mining camps spread along the Yellowstone River. At forty some, his checkered background that of dealing Blackjack or bardogging, drifting from one town to another, what he knew about the law was from inside a jail cell. Now a starpacker, Sam had picked up on the reason why he'd been hired, that for certain Judge Garth was involved with these murderous long riders, and now U.S. Marshal Sam Chapman was determined to see justice done.