Set in 1862 against the backdrop of Utah's desert terrain, Henry Heath, a grieving law officer, is assigned to look after a prisoner by the name of Jean Baptiste, a French immigrant convicted of robbing the graves of the recently deceased. After Baptiste is exiled to Antelope Island, Heath becomes his only defense against the region's hostile isolation and the contempt of the entire community. But in spending time with the criminal, Heath's heart softens and he begins to find relief for his own sorrows.