In the middle of a harsh desert where water is the town's most valuable resource, an accused killer runs to escape the man who is trying to kill him. Troy Warfield is on the run. He is entering hostile New Mexico territory, where the heat sucks moisture from the earth and beats down the weak. Accused of killing a deputy U. S. Marshal, Warfield has been running for six hundred miles, evading the relentless pursuit of U. S. Marshal John Trent. Fulton, New Mexico, is the only source of water at the end of a desert. Anyone wanting to reach Mexico would need to ride through Fulton, a town that is run by Lem Bricker and his gang, who charge mightily for its water at two dollars a gallon. When Troy Warfield is waylaid on the way to Fulton, Marshal Trent gets there ahead of him and is captured by Bricker and his thugs. All they want from Trent is information: who he's pursuing, his description, and how much money he's carrying. Soon, it begins to look as if the outlaws will assist Marshal Trent to do whatever it takes to capture Warfield. There's just one little problem: Troy Warfield isn't carrying any money.