After some bad publicity involving a shooting, Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens' boss transfers Raylan from Miami to Lexington, Kentucky. Under Chief Deputy Art Mullen, an old friend from the academy, Raylan takes on the case of the murder of a young white supremacist who is linked to a church bombing. The chief suspect is Boyd Crowder, a childhood friend of Raylan's. In order to catch him, Raylan returns to his hometown of Harlan. Boyd gives Raylan an ultimatum: leave Harlan within twenty-four hours or be killed. After a tense confrontation at an old acquaintance's house, Raylan gets the drop on Boyd and shoots him in the chest, though he survives and is hospitalized.