The story begins with the death of an outlaw, Black Jack, which is witnessed by a spinster and her lazy brother. Black Jack had an infant son, now orphaned, and the brother and sister discuss the topic of nature vs. nurture. The spinster determines to raise the infant and make an honest man of him. Her brother bets the child will kill a man before age 25.
Fast forward to just before the boy's 25th birthday. The spinster's brother, fearing his sister will disinherit him in favor of her adopted son, arranges for the boy, Terry, to discover his father's identity and to meet the man who killed his father from ambush. Terry challenges his father's killer and shoots the man in a fair duel. Terry then flees his home in disgrace.
Terry tries to live an honest life but no one will trust the son of Black Jack to be an honest man. He keeps encountering members of his father's criminal gang, and in the end moves in to the headquarters of the gang, where the gang leader's daughter falls for him.
Terry seems to be going to the bad, killing a man in a shootout and planning and executing a robbery. Is he doomed to follow in his father's footsteps, or can he be saved by the love of a good woman?
