In the late 1860s, Idaho City is the largest city in the American Northwest, a bustling mecca for those toiling away in the hot sun, desperate to find the next big strike of gold and a few nightly comforts. The men and women of Idaho City, eager for their own share of that hard-fought golden treasure, do their best to serve the needs of the frontier, but as in any boom town, there are those who wanted to make quick money free from the burden of an honest day's work.

This atmosphere draws outlaws, in particular a gang known as the Ghost Riders, a mysterious and dangerous crew of wraithlike figures, draped all in white, on horses that wore the same disguise. They rob the city's payrolls in transit and kill the men delivering them, and up till now, no lawman could touch them.

As the citizens begin to panic, the mayor called a meeting of all the business owners to discuss drastic measures. And so Colton Baines Hawke, a retired Texas Ranger with a reputation as a drunkard, is hired to hunt some ghosts.

Now sober, and with the love of a good woman named Emma Starr, he is a man on a mission. But when his investigation is tainted by the fear of betrayal and the sting of lost trust, even he begins to doubt himself.

It will take all of his Ranger experience and skill to solve this mystery. .