Two itinerant cowhands arrive in a hot, sparsely settled border country when one seeks relief for a crippling rheumatism, and they quickly become entangled in the local orders of ranch and mining life. Encounters with an aloof, powerful rancher who controls nearby springs, stage travelers, and borderland neighbors expose simmering disputes over land, honor, and survival. The narrative moves through episodic episodes of work, small-town gossip, comic character sketches, and escalating violence, emphasizing rugged landscape, practical loyalties, and the costs of frontier justice before reaching a final reckoning that resolves long-hidden grievances.