in 1950, attorney charles phalen is contacted by an elderly man named "brushy bill" roberts. brushy bill tells phalen that he is dying and wants to receive a pardon that he was promised 70 years before by the governor of new mexico, claiming that he is really william h. bonney aka "billy the kid", whom "everyone" knows to have been shot and killed by pat garrett in 1881. phalen then asks if bill has any proof that he is the famous outlaw.