"When Iron Turns to Gold" was the sequel Max Brand wrote to the novel Iron Dust. A pardon exonerated Andrew Lanning of any crime he may have committed during his time as an outlaw. Marshal Hal Dozier, instrumental in obtaining that pardon, has urged Andy to return to Martindale and his former life there as a blacksmith. Anne Withero, the woman Lanning loves, has returned to the East. And Martindale will not accept Andy back, merely waiting until he breaks the law again. Larry la Roche and other members of the Allister gang want Andy to rejoin the gang, but, if he doesn't, they stand prepared to commit a bold robbery in Martindale and frame Andy for the crime. Jimmy Bristol is "The Two-Handed Man." He has the reputation of being able to fire a six-gun accurately using either hand. Bristol is on the dodge when he stops briefly at the Graney Ranch to rest his horse. Joe Graney and his daughter Margaret tell Bristol about the thefts they have suffered at the hands of Dirk van Wey and his gang, who operate from a hide-out on Graney land. Despite being pursued by the law himself, Bristol decides he will take a hand against Dirk van Wey. On a stormy night in "The Black Muldoon, " a notorious outlaw shows up at the home of the storekeeper, Jefferson Peters. The Black Muldoon has a strange cargo, an infant boy that he wants to leave with Peters so that he can be raised by Peters and his wife as their son along with the two boys they already have. Young Jerry Peters, growing up, turns out to be exceptional at everything he tries, and as an adult manhunter it is Jerry who takes to the trail to capture the Black Muldoon.