1886. Tommy Stallings, deputy sheriff of Colfax County is tracking Jake Flynt, a man who robs banks, hates sodbusters and has a nasty habit of taking his bullwhip to them, after which he burns them. His gang is a "who's who" of bad hombres in the Territory. Stallings must track them down on the rolling plains of northern New Mexico known as the Big Empty. The land goes on forever, the wind blows like a banshee and you never know who waits over the next rise. Tough duty for a young man who only recently was a drifting cowboy trailing steers up to Colorado. His job is complicated by the fact that a young Irishman, Garrett O'Donnell, was witnessed participating in a bank robbery in Cimarrón. Although O'Donnell has a mysterious past, Tommy knows he's no outlaw.

If the young deputy has to bend the law to find justice, he doesn't mind. The plot winds through a backdrop of romance, political intrigue, friendships and family relationships. Bodies pile up at an alarming rate as Jake Flynt goes on a murderous rampage. It all comes down to a showdown on the top of Black Mesa out in the Big Empty.