After a prostitute is murdered at the Easy Nickel saloon, Texas Ranger Josiah Wolfe finds his best friend, Scrap Elliot, in jail and wrongly accused. A strangely familiar horse and a mysterious code are the only clues Josiah has to prove his friend's innocence and save him from execution. Once a Yankee reporter gets involved, Josiah is led to Blanche Dumont's House of Pleasures, where he learns of a thieving, jail-broken accountant with strange ties to both the Easy Nickel and the town's wealthiest banker.

With a new railroad line blazing into town, everyone--especially the arrogant young sheriff--is determined to clean up Austin. Faced with the ticking clock of Scrap's impending trial, Josiah Wolfe must find out who it was that went one step too far.