Newly married and dreaming of settling down on his ranch on the Guadalupe River, Texas Ranger Andy Pickard is dispatched to central Texas to investigate a series of murders and cattle thefts.

Pickard and his new partner, Logan Daggett, soon learn that the two biggest cattlemen in the region are at each others’ throats—and that one or the other is blamed for each act of violence. After getting to know the ranchers, however, Ranger Pickard suspects that neither is guilty.

Adding fuel to the fire is the rise of the "regulators," a gang of masked vigilantes whose identities are kept so secret that men suspected of divulging their names have been killed.  On top of this comes the arrival of a notorious gunman whose sudden appearance is noted especially by Ranger Daggett, who knows the man and his deadly reputation