When Ted Harper, one of the wealthiest men in Bedford County, Tennessee, is shot dead in broad daylight, on a Saturday afternoon, in the main street of the small railroad town of Buckland Station, none of the townspeople, including the business associates he was allegedly meeting, come forward and admit to hearing or seeing anything. At first, it appears that the lack of cooperation or evidence will render the crime unsolvable. Then, the dead man's politically connected family petitions the governor's office for assistance. A request is made to the Federal District Judge, and he responds by ordering US Marshal Ward Wilkinson and his Deputy, Tom Seibert, to Buckland Station to discover who killed the man and why.

The marshals soon learn that Harper had a deserved reputation as a violence-prone, unethical predator and that those who might have wanted him dead number in the dozens. Was this a private quarrel? An organized conspiracy? Vigilantism? Further complicating the marshals' task is finding a wanted bank robber and murderer residing in the area. The answers the lawmen seek reside in the dark corners of the community, behind barriers of long-delayed justice, hatred, and a defiant attitude of justified revenge, and the exposure of the well-hidden truth might be fatal to anyone disturbing it. Ward and Tom will have to overcome these barriers as they work their way through a slew of complex characters and scenarios to find the killer(s) and bring them to justice.