Plot summary

William Blake has just lost his parents. Nothing left to lose, he makes his way from Cleveland to Machin, a small town far in the west where the railroad ends. In his pockets are just some dollars and a letter promising a job as an accountant. When William arrives in Machin he realizes that he is one month too late. Dickinson's steel-works already has a new accountant. There really could be no other man more wrong in place in the wild west than William. What to do? Surprisingly, William seems to make his career as a real westerner. As he shoots a man in self-defense, he needs to flee into the wilderness: westward.—Oliver Heidelbach