The McCains cattle have been wiped out - along with pretty well everyone else's in the area - by hoof and mouth disease. North Fork is quickly becoming something of a ghost town with boarded up shops and even Marshal Micah Torrance wondering if he will stay on. He has a suggestion for Lucas however. The government is looking for someone to go to Wyoming under cover and determine how local Indians have been obtaining new repeater rifles. With few options available to him, Lucas decides to take the job despite objections from Mark. Once in his new town, he pretends to be something of an outlaw in the hopes of getting in with the crooks.
—garykmcd