Rubén Santiago, enslaved in Mexico as a child, has turned his back on his Navajo heritage. Now an old man, his only friend is Morgan Braddock, a haunted Civil War veteran with a questionable past. Morgan wants nothing more than to return to his wife and children, but a hangman's noose stands in the way. Esther Corbin, abandoned by her husband, and her four children face an uncertain future on the outskirts of Chasm Creek, a territorial mining town. When the two men seek help at Esther's isolated farm, their growing friendship unleashes consequences that expose the lies their lives are built upon.