Pender Denton was born in a bordello. His mother, a sex-worker, taught him to steal. He grew up with little regard for "normal" society. He was a pre-teen when he killed his first man.
Pender wanders the lawless, post civil war west and survives by stealing and selling horses. He meets, and insults, famous outlaw Jesse James---and lives to tell about it. Pender also met Bill Dalton, of the Wild Bunch/Dalton Gang. Bill claims to be Pender's father.
Pender gains a friend, a crime partner, and a life partner when he meets Johnnie Sweetwater. Sweetwater was born a member of a California Shoshone native tribe. He had been kidnapped by missionaries who forced him into one of their schools and robbed him of his tribal legacy.
The two men, both outcasts from all the so-called civilized aspects of the old west, live and travel together. They rob banks and trains. They steal horses. They fight bloody battles with other outlaws who try to steal the pair's ill-gotten loot. However, they also restore stolen wages to a crew of trail riders, risk their lives to find a neighbor's lost son, rescue a young girl who was being held hostage, and save the livelihoods of a stranded band of Irish and Chinese railroad workers.
Pender Denton--Outlaw is an historically accurate look at the wild west in America, but above all, it is a very human story of two men and their adventures.