“Don’t shoot them arrows of Cupid without expectin’ me to follow through,” the master of the house barks to Libby Campbell. To escape his abuse she dresses like a boy, steals his gold, and runs away, but is chased by Charles Grenville, the attorney assigned to retrieve the stolen money. Traveling west on the train, Libby meets a dedicated theological student, Wendell Cotter, patterned after the true-life legend, Endicott Peabody of Massachusetts, whose outstanding posterity has placed his name on roads, a town, and a museum.

Libby’s romantic feelings for this good Tombstone preacher must wait through robberies, fires, and murders, all while she attempts to evade Grenville and her own history as a thief. The job she is lucky to find brings her in contact with Wyatt Earp and his brothers Morgan and Virgil, who strive for justice after the shootout at the OK Corral. Determined to stay strong in the midst of hostilities, Libby wakens to the good she sees in this dark place, and finally falls in love.