Cole Younger & The Black Train traces Cole Younger's experiences with the Black Train first as a teenager, then into adult life as he partners with Jesse James to create the most notorious outlaw band of the old West, the James-Younger gang.

Sierra Nevada Mountains, 1887: William Drayton, once a crack sharpshooter in the Civil War, has lost his wife and home. He has ascended to the high country, wanting never to be heard from again.