Tim Hogan and Gerard DuBois were childhood friends in antebellum Georgia, but their lives took very different paths after the Civil War, with DuBois becoming an outlaw and Hogan a deputy marshal. Now, in 1890, both men are middle-aged - and Hogan is charged with hunting down the companion of his youth. But neither man is prepared to abandon his honour just to win the battle - come what may, they will still adhere to the rattlesnake code.