Bass Reeves was a man of color and a deputy United States marshal. For thirteen years he was sided by deputy marshal Dave Adams, a white man. Bennie Reeves was Bass' son, who shot down his unarmed wife who had been cheating on him and then disappeared. U.S. Marshal Leo E. Bennett had reservations about handing the warrant to Bass Reeves to be served against Bennie, but for Bass there was no reservation. His son had broken the law and was a fugitive. Bass thought he knew where to look for his son, and he found him and arrested him. But then Bennie was suddenly freed from custody by the notorious Cherokee Bob Dozier and his gang of renegades. So when the pursuit continued, it was now fraught with far more danger.