Gun-fighter! Deputy Marshal! Romantic! Friend to the Trinidad priest and Marshal Bat Masterson! Jack "Applejack" Martin is a youthful gun-fighting deputy! After his parent's death, Applejack leaves the family's hardscrabble ranch to travel to Trinidad, Colorado. Along the way, he fights a bandito and is badly beaten. While recovering, Jack encounters a wounded outlaw and saves the gunman's life. In return, the young man is taught to be a pistolero of extreme skill. Arriving in Trinidad, Applejack prevents Bat Masterson from being killed and is hired by the noted marshal to become one of his deputies. The unworldly young lawman falls in love with a wealthy senorita and must confront her hateful and arrogant father. The deputy's innocence, but great skill with a revolver, quickly elicits the respect of Trinidad's residents, of Masterson, and of other deputies, and it transforms the ranch boy into a man. Through the intriguing character of Applejack, author Charlie Steel weaves a riveting and fascinating tale around very real people and events of the old West that include not only the famous marshal but also a wayward and colorful priest.