When range detective Rance Dehner kills outlaw Tully Brooks, he finds that the case will not be closed so easily. Before dying, Brooks tells Dehner that he was involved in a fake bank robbery in which no money was stolen. An innocent man has been arrested for the hold up, and Brooks wants Dehner to investigate. Dehner's compliance with a dying man's request sends him to Hard Stone, Colorado, where the fake robbery took place. This prosperous mining town is layered in mystery and violence; Dehner must deal with a high-stakes gambler, a mining engineer who's always quick to draw his gun, and a mysterious assailant who seems determined to ambush and kill the detective. With enemies all around him, can Dehner get to the bottom of this before it's too late?

When Range Detective Rance Dehner stops to make camp he hears a strange sound coming from the surrounding brush. A young girl of about five is hiding there, unable to speak and her eyes reflecting terror. Within minutes, someone tries to ambush both Dehner and the child. Bullets continue to fly as Dehner discovers that the child has witnessed her parents' murder and that the horrifying experience has traumatized her into silence. The detective's investigation leads him into a bizarre small-town race for mayor and a whirlpool of violence related to the brutal killing of the girl's parents. Can Dehner discover the shocking truth behind the murders before a town destroys itself?