Troy Warfield entered the New Mexico Territory on the run. Accused of killing a deputy U.S. Marshal, he had been running for six hundred miles while being pursued relentlessly by U.S. Marshal John Trent. Fulton, New Mexico, is unique in that it's the only source of water at the end of a desert, so anyone wanting to reach Mexico would need to ride through Fulton - and Lem Bricker and his gang run the town and charge mightily for its water. Troy Warfield is waylaid on the way to Fulton, allowing Marshal Trent to get there ahead of him - where he's captured by Bricker and his thugs. All they want from Trent is information: who he's pursuing, his description, and how much money he's carrying. It actually looks like the outlaws will assist Marshal Trent. There's just one little problem: Troy Warfield isn't carrying any money.