On the Texas border, in 1887, Texas Ranger Division David Kingston is sent by Lawrence Sullivan Ross to the isolated town of Mount Hermon. David is to investigate a series of murders and disappearances of Mexican citizens, in particular to search for Maria Calderon, the missing niece of a Mexican general who is threatening to invade to find her. In the town, preacher and mayor Abraham Brant – the man who killed David’s father in a Helena, Texas knife fight in 1866 – is keeping all the townsfolk in some kind of fearful grip. When David arrives in town, the townsfolk act cold and hostile towards him, with the exception of Abraham, who is smitten by David's wife, Marisol.