Set in the days following the Civil War, Larry Ward starred as US Marshal Frank Ragan who maintained law and order with the assistance of three deputies (who earned $40 dollars a month).

These lawmen were responsible for keeping the peace in the Black Hills/Badlands region of the Dakota Territory that covered both North and South Dakota, Idaho, and a great deal of Montana and Wyoming.

The deputies in the Marshall's employ included:

• Jack Elam as Deputy J.D. Smith, a cynical ex-gunfighter
• Mike Greene as Deputy Vance Porter, the hot-tempered one
• Chad Everett as Deputy Del Stark, the idealistic one

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The lives of the Dakotas lawmen included these adventures:

• Deputy J.D. Smith investigates the murder of an old loyal friend.
• Marshal Ragan helps a woman with a troubled half-bred son.
• The deputies find prisoners treated inhumanely as Fort Mercy
• A ruthless mine owner hires gunslingers to control labor force.
• Marshal Ragan tracks the kidnappers of a rancher's daughter.
• Marshal Ragan confronts the man who killed his wife years ago.
• A town posse kills a man allegedly accused of murder.
• A town sheriff runs his town like a feudal state with him as king.
• Spoiled food poisons soldiers and the Cavalry wants justice.
• A feud between farmers and cattlemen must be settled.
• Marshal Ragan investigates a Countess who killed her husband.
• J.D. Smith's old gang leader tries to lure him back to crime.
• Marshall Ragan escorts a Sioux Indian chief to a peace signing.
• Hungry, unpaid railroad workers seek help from Heart River.
• Deputies Del and Vance shoot a man in self defense and then are sentenced to be hanged. Can the Marshall find a witness?
• Marshall Ragan confronts a man who is running  farmers off their land so that he can become wealthy
• A grieving brother takes a church pastor hostage to get revenge on Del and DJ for killing his two brothers.