Clayton Jane, a war-weary ex-Confederate from Georgia, heads west to Wyoming, where he reconstructs his life as a ranch foreman and right-hand man for an English cattle baron. A Pinkerton detective is sent to Laramie to investigate anonymous threats from a would-be president-assassin. President Grant is due to come into town on a political tour, and Clayton an ex-Southerner finds himself on the Pinkerton's list of suspects.