In the winter of 1888, a gang led by notorious desperado Taw Johnson has just survived a bruising encounter with the North West Mounted Police. Johnson realizes that he and his men stand more chance of survival if they operate from Mexico, and he fully intends to loot and pillage every step of the way. In the course of their journey, they arrive at a small ranch, near the town of Chinook. Cathy Clemens is recently married, but temporarily alone on the ranch. Against good advice, Johnson makes the fateful decision to carry her off to satisfy his own needs. When John Clemens returns, he swears vengeance and sets off in pursuit. What the outlaws don't realize is that he has a particular set of deadly skills, honed over years of hunting both men and buffalo for pay. With his Sharps rifle, he becomes a deadly shadow, coldly picking the men off one by one. And against all the odds, the impressionable Cathy finds herself attracted to Johnson and at the same time ever more alienated by her husband's unrelentingly cruel behaviour.