Clint Morgan is a young Nebraskan with his whole life ahead of him -- until a twist of fate causes him to kill a man. Now, his innocence gone, he finds the trajectory of his life not only forever changed but splitting along two paths, each devoted to a different woman. One of these women he will marry; one will remain forever unwinnable but no less loved. A brakeman's lantern comes to symbolize the unattainable love of his life.

Horseman, boxer, World War I soldier, successful rancher and farmer, Clint is a self-reliant man whose involvement in a secret mission is key to nullifying Nazi intelligence efforts in the USA before World War II. He is fearless and stoic in the face of danger, but the shadows over his life intensify as three more times he must take a life in order to save his own. Only near the end does he discover that his existence on earth, which seemed heavily marked by death, was unknowingly blessed by unexpected life.