In the spring of 1886, a locomotive disappears from a siding near Marshall, Texas. When a thorough search fails to reveal any trace of it, the Division Manager of the Texas & Louisiana Railway decides to seek assistance from Tennyson Pierce, a Dallas attorney with a reputation for solving unusual crimes. Pierce is accompanied on the journey to East Texas by his new friend, Dr. Jarvis Weston, setting the stage for a tangled investigation that eventually stretches from the financial centers of New York City asnd Philadelphia to the casinos of western Louisiana. Along the way, Weston proves his worth by uncovering some key evidence concerning a conspiracy to establish a rail monopoly in Texas. However, it is the incisive deductions of Pierce that finally expose the true motive for the theft and lead to a daring confrontation on a remote stretch of track deep within the Piney Woods.