Lucas McCain hires an bitter ex-Confederate to help him around the ranch. When General Philip Sheridan and his staff stop at McCain's ranch to camp, Lucas is afraid there will be trouble.
A super fast, black gunman who killed the 5 men the law allowed to murder his father years ago, demands that deputy McCain symbolically throw his badge in the dirt.
A gunfight with an unwilling participant brings a need for a doctor, but Doc Burrage is out of town. A doctor passing through North Fork volunteers to help. However, he and Lucas have a past, and not a good one.
A famous fast gunslinger comes looking for his old friend Lucas to help him retire in North Fork, but 3 gunman followed him and want his help to dominate the town.
Lucas and Mark are in the barn. Outside a snowstorm is raging and the wind is howling. After they reach the house, they hear Scotty, the driver on a stagecoach. He asks to spend the night. The stagecoach passengers are also invited into the McCain home.
At night Micah stops by the North Fork jail to check on a prisoner named Charlie Gordo. Charlie does not want to go to Yuma prison to be hanged. He threatens Micah by telling him that if he tries to make him go, he will kill him.
A famous gun fighter, whom Mark idolizes, is in town telling more of his stories. But this time, he tells one story too many and is challenged. Lucas begins thinking that maybe he's not "the most amazing man" after all.