Marshal Crown manages to miraculously survive being shot twice -- during a failed attempt by two outlaw brothers to free a third, who had been arrested for murder--and going without treatment until a doctor can be located. Dulcey, some Cimarron townsmen (motivated by fear of the outlaw's family and a $500 reward) launch an intensive search for Crown. A picaresque bipolar scavenger/peddler (with two personalities which constantly talk and quibble between themselves) finds Crown, but the only available doctor is a drunkard, now avoided by the locals and considered to be a quack.