Outlawed

As Elzy recuperates from her gunshot wound, the group ostracizes Ada until Agnes Rose approaches her asking for something to help get to sleep. Ada recommends laudanum (a compound similar to opium), so she and Agnes Rose travel to a Native American trading post. Nótkon, the trader, is on good terms with the Hole in the Wall Gang, since his Arapaho tribe is also outcast from white society. Laudanum is expensive; it comes all the way from China. Agnes Rose doesn’t have enough to trade for the laudanum, but Ada offers Nótkon Mrs. Schaeffer’s midwife manual. On the long trip back to the Hole in the Wall, Ada repeats the book in her mind to remember the details.

The Gang decides to use the laudanum to rob Roger McBride, a wealthy man who runs the town Fiddleback Ranch. Gang member News, posing as a cowboy to gather information, discovers that a man named Alexander Bixby is in charge of depositing McBride’s income to the bank and retrieving a large bag of coins to pay McBride’s employees. Agnes Rose poses as a young virgin rejected by her fiancée and flirts with Bixby, luring him to a room at an inn. If the Gang can spike Bixby’s drink with enough laudanum, they can steal the bag of coins. Because the Gang needs Ada’s medical expertise to ensure the proper dosage of laudanum, they allow Ada to go along—without her gun.

On the way to Fiddleback Ranch, News, Ada, and Agnes Rose pull their horses to the side to avoid a stampede of buffalo. The force of the herd stuns Ada, who must keep Amity calm to not be thrown and trampled. Agnes Rose’s horse Prudence becomes restless in the face of the stampede. Prudence bucks Agnes Rose about, but Ada saves Agnes Rose by calming the frightened horse. Later, while gathering firewood for the camp, Agnes Rose thanks Ada and tells her that Ada will end up a valuable member of the Gang.

The next day, they arrive at Veronica’s, the bar where Agnes Rose will meet up with Bixby. News is served a drink last due to her dark skin, yet another surprise to Ada, who knows very little of the world. Ada spots Lark, an extremely attractive man, which makes her even more nervous about her unpracticed disguise as a man. Lark and his friend Harry say hello to News and introduce themselves to Ada. Bixby arrives and gets drunk very quickly with Agnes Rose, a sign that the laudanum she put in his drink is working. News watches the bar carefully to observe Bixby’s reaction, but Ada’s conversation with the handsome Lark distracts her. Lark grew up in Missouri and left after falling in love with a woman he could not marry. Ada is impressed that a man can so easily choose a different life than the one intended for him by society.

Agnes Rose helps an inebriated Bixby up the stairs to the rooms available for sleep or sex. News and Ada follow them. A drunken man tries to start a fight with Ada in the hallway, so the Gang must move quickly before the bar owner hears the yelling. News smashes the window with a chair and Agnes Rose grabs the leather sack resting by Bixby’s body. Agnes Rose jumps first, and Ada stumbles after her. The Gang rides for hours to get distance between them and anyone who might be following. When they slow down, News teases Ada about Lark. Occasionally, when women from the Gang want to be with a man, they get dressed up and go to bars for one-night stands. Some cowboys do like other cowboys, but Ada should never undress while disguised as a man.

Agnes Rose gives Ada the honor of opening the satchel. But the only contents are bottles of whiskey and an envelope outlining McBride’s debts with the bank. There are no coins—the Gang’s mission has been in vain.

Winter presents a challenge to the Hole in the Wall Gang. Roads are completely covered with snow, and the Gang rations food. Elzy, the Gang’s prized hunter, can no longer shoot the way she used to because of her gunshot wound.

The Kid gathers the Gang to propose a grand plan: robbing the entire contents of the bank in Fiddleback Ranch, then disguising someone as a rich out-of-towner offering to buy the bank—and therefore the town. If this ambitious plan succeeds, it would expand the Hole in the Wall’s territory significantly. As the Gang debates the feasibility and purpose of the plan, Cassie grows frustrated and walks off, certain that the Kid has already decided and doesn’t truly care about the Gang’s opinion. Elzy follows Cassie to comfort her.

When Elzy and Cassie don’t return, the Gang is concerned that they’ve lost their way in the snow. Ada goes out to look for them. She finds Elzy holding a frozen Cassie in a cabin. Cassie is near death, so Ada instructs Elzy to build a fire. Remembering what her mother taught her about hypothermia, Ada undresses Cassie and Elzy and asks Elzy to hold Cassie tightly skin to skin while Ada wraps them together. With the transference of body heat, Ada saves Cassie’s life.

As Cassie recovers, the Kid leaves the decision of taking over Fiddleback Ranch to a group vote. The Gang has three days to decide where they stand. Ada investigates what the others will vote for, unsure about her choice. Those opposed believe that the plan means certain death; those for the plan are either extremely loyal to the Kid or have a pact with the Kid to accomplish their own desires.

The Kid asks Ada for more laudanum. Ada gets the sense that the Kid isn’t sleeping well. One drop should help someone sleep, people can get addicted to laudanum. Then, Ada proposes a pact: Ada wants to join Mrs. Schaeffer, but needs money and protection on her journey. If Ada votes for the Kid’s plan, the Kid will help her get to Mrs. Schaeffer safely.

The Gang votes in favor of the mission, with Elzy and Cassie still firmly against.

Nótkon refuses to sell Agnes Rose and Ada dynamite, as the sheriffs would know that he’s involved in whatever scheme the Gang is concocting. The Gang must therefore build its own explosive. Agnes Rose and Ada meet with the bookseller who transported Ada to Hole in the Wall and trade for a book that explains how to make explosives. The bookseller tells Ada that there is still a bounty out for her. He recently met Sheriff Branch and found him to be very kind. He suggests that the Gang try to make peace with people instead of pillaging. Agnes Rose wants to kill the bookseller, concerned that he’ll turn Ada in.

Ada uses the book to experiment with explosives, but fails. Elzy urges Ada to tell the Kid that it won’t be possible to make an explosive; without one, the mission cannot move forward. Meanwhile, Ada has begun to feel at home with the Gang, yet she can’t push the dream of working with Mrs. Schaeffer from her mind.

One night, Ada finds the Kid pouring over maps. The Kid continues to have trouble sleeping, even with the laudanum. The Kid was a preacher’s child, and was good at preaching too. But now the Kid is worried about the mental health issues related to sleepless nights and abuse of laudanum. The Kid asks Ada to help if ever the Kid develops an addiction.

Frustrated with her failed attempts at making a bomb, Ada reads more of the book. She learns that the military feeds their horses corn and oats. Because horse manure is an important ingredient in making the explosive device, Ada decides to change Amity’s manure. After she feeds Amity corn and oats, the bomb made out of only Amity’s droppings works, and Ada successfully makes an explosion.

News and Ada travel to a town called Casper, where they disguise themselves as Nate and Adam and meet up with Lark and Henry at the county fair, which will help rob the bank in Fiddleback Ranch. Ada and News pick out nice clothing for a fancier town event where they plan to steal a horse and carriage.

At the market, News and Ada come across Dr. Edward Lively, the man who wrote a book about miscegenation leading to infertility—a book that transformed News’s town for the worse and forced her away from her family and community. Dr. Lively is holding a demonstration of "healthy" breeding. News, disguised as a man, faces this man down.

The next afternoon, Casper holds a big fair to crown their Mother of the Year. Lark, Henry, News, and Ada dress up, drink, and dance. Ada and Lark share momentary touches, a secret communication of their desire for one another. When the celebration begins, the group finds one of the less fancy carriages to hitch up and steal. Two women approach Ada. Ada tells them "he" is engaged to a woman from Fairchild, and the women start asking questions about bloodlines. Though she should just be polite to avoid notice, Ada can’t help but want to correct and educate these women. She tells them that miscegenation and the idea of a “good stock” is nonsense. The women are offended, telling her that she shouldn’t come back to sell anything next year.

News drives the carriage quickly away from the fair, but while Lark and Ada unlatch the gate, three men with guns and fast horses catch up to them. Lark and Ada stay behind as News and Henry gallop away.

The sheriff and deputy search Ada, see the bandage across her chest, and force her to reveal her breasts. The sheriff tells the deputy about a “he-she” he arrested before. They put her on the stocks for three days while townspeople threw rocks at her, killing her slowly but savagely. Lark and Ada are taken to jail, where an old woman imprisoned for witchcraft tells them that though she’s not barren and has given birth to five sons, her sisters-in-law accused her of making them infertile. She’s been in jail for 20 years.

Lark tells Ada about his past: He was arrested in his hometown for being in love with a man and his punishment was castration. His parents bailed him out of jail on the condition that he leave town and never return. Lark spent years mired in depression and suicidal thoughts. When he met an old traveling veterinarian, Lark found purpose again and is no longer ashamed of himself.

The morning after their first night in jail, Ada is convinced that hanging would be better than rotting in jail. The old woman suggests a plan: If Lark and Ada tell the sheriff they want to marry, he might bring them to the church for the ceremony and let them consummate the marriage. This would give them time to escape.

The sheriff refuses a visit to the Church, but brings a priest and agrees to bring Ada and Lark to a private room to consummate the marriage after the ceremony. The priest asks Ada and Lark a few questions to make sure they are truly in love and not just trying to delay justice. Though Ada knows their story is make-believe, she feels happiness and comfort.

The guard handcuffs Ada and Lark to lead them to their consummation room. Lark hits the guard, but when he and Ada make a run for it, Ada is shot in the leg and they’re both dragged back to their cell. Lark tries to tend to Ada’s wound, but she loses consciousness as he asks her to give him medical instructions.