Born and raised in a bordello in Boonesborough, Kentucky, Zach McCall never knew his mother and only sees his whiskey-drummer father, Fat Jack McCall, occasionally. Reluctantly, Zach serves the South during the Civil War and meets younger half-brother Little Jack in Louisville. After the war, Zach befriends Jasper Washington, an educated, former bear-wrestling Black man. Zach heads west with Jasper, joined by Little Jack, who is looking for adventure and to get away from his father. The McCall boys and Jasper arrive in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, where one of the Wild West's most famous murders takes place - during a poker game at the No. 10 Saloon.