The enigmatic Caleb Hammer, Bounty Hunter,, Pinkerton agent, tragic hero, rides into the town of Manacle, Wyoming.
Upon setting foot in the main bar, he is challenged to a gunfight by a young gunman. Caleb knocks the him out with a quick right hook to the left cheek , and throws the overzealous fool out of the bar. THe town sherriff walks in and Caleb questions him about a pair of civil war legends turned murdererous outlaws, known as Crawford and Lovelace. The sherriff reluctantly gives him the information he requires, not fully trusing him. After THe sherriff leaves, Caleb suffers a flashback to his time training as a priest, remembering his wife Theas piontless murder by a drunkard. It is here Caleb first begins to see the need for order in a land so completely bereft of it.
He drops out of the seminary and becomes a pinkerton agent. Though he is given a gun by the company , he believes his use of it will only cause more and more violence and chaos, so he swears never to use it to kill a man.
Another flashback tells off the time he pursued an outlaw called Billy Par. As Par draws on him, Caleb lobs a rock him, striking him in the shoulder, incapacitating his gunhand. He walks over to the cursing criminal, and casually snaps the chamber of his revolver off.
After leaving the town, Caleb follows his targets trail, to a deserted frontier farm. As he enters the barn , he trips a rope that catches him in an explosion, but he escapes, even carrying a Foal to safety . He Flashbacks once again to the workers strike of 1886. After the police arrived to quel the crowd a riot broke out. Calebs brother, Isaak, and 5 others were killed.
Caleb has arrived at his enemies hideout. they have takena frontier family hostage, and are overconfident of their safety. Caleb has gathered his emotions and turned all his focus towards his goals. He disrupt the men inside by howling and casting his sillouette against the full moon. Believing that the men inside are scared stiff by what theyve seen ,Caleb makes ready to attack them. But before he can, He suffers another flashback, this time going back to1888, to the memory of the first man he killed.The blizzard of 88 was to be remembered as one of the worst in history. Caleb shot the escaped convict called Penfield, but before he could return him to his superiors, the cabin was snowed over. Penfields wound festered with gangrene, and he died, his actions racked Caleb with guilt, and he came to the realisation that both arresting the two dangerous outlaws and ensuring the familys safety, could he pay back what he owed to the law.
However tragedy struck when The youngest boy, Jimmy was struck with fear of the howling outside, and suffered an epileptic fit. The outlaws shot him dead, thinking the "injun wolf spirit" had possesed him.
Caleb, in hysterics over what had just happened, burst into the cabin , and viscously beat the pair.
He told both he could just pull out his gun and blow them away, but they didnt deserve such an easy way out.
He knocked them unconscous and arrested them. After, Caleb took stock of what hed just transpired. He had not shot the boy, but he felt Jimmys death was his fault. He took the little dead boy in his arms,and headed out onto the cliffside. Cradling the boys body in his arms, And looked to the stars, searching the night sky for some small measure of hope.
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