Ex-Pinkerton detective Joshua Dillard, gun for hire, took on the job of troubleshooter for a French theater company touring the West. Just routine bodyguarding, he supposed … till he met the amazing Gisèle Bourdette, a publicity-hungry superstar ahead of her time, choking the 1880s New World puritans on their censorious piety.

Joshua committed the blunder of intimate liaison with an eager Gisèle, falling foul of her leading man and lover, Henri Rabier-Roget — a talentless hunk scourged by jealousy and the morphine habit.

Meanwhile, ruthless Borderland bandit "Loco Louey" Velarde was after the actress' unbanked takings, transported at her quaint insistence in gold coins.

And sensitive Lorena, daughter of domineering rancher and cow-town opera house founder Bennett Maxwell, resisted an unwelcome suitor.