Adventuring that finds its end in the finale of the ""archdemon of the trails"", Henry Plummer, whose long list of crimes grows during newspaperman William McCandles' pursuit. Posing as a fellow desperado, McCandles, after being accepted by Plummer, is paid off over Elly Bryan in a blizzard; a prisoner of the Crows brings Lisa to McCandles and a successful escape; gold at Alder Gulch, which becomes Virginia City, and Plummer, now married to Elly, spurs McCandles and other miners, to action, with his lawless assassinations. The old, rough West done to a robust turn.