Raylan finds Boyd Crowder preaching to his new “church” of repentant ex-criminals at their camp in the woods. Raylan confronts Boyd, tells him he knows he’ll be up to his old tricks soon. He offers Boyd’s men a fifty thousand dollar reward for information leading to Boyd’s conviction.

Back in Lexington, Raylan gets assigned protection duty for a federal judge known as Mike “The Hammer” Reardon due to his harsh sentencing. He’s requested Raylan specifically. It seems someone tried to kill Reardon by hiding a cottonmouth snake in his bed.

In Harlan, Boyd shows up at a meth trailer and threatens the low-lifes working there. Either they stop cooking drugs or he’ll blow the trailer up.

Raylan meets Reardon for the first time in his chambers at the courthouse. Reardon turns out to be just as eccentric as rumored, wearing only underwear and a gun beneath his judicial robes. He tells Raylan he requested him specifically because he’s enamored with Raylan’s gunslinger persona.

As Raylan follows Reardon home from court, Reardon’s car starts swerving all over the road, eventually crashing on the side of the road. Raylan rushes over to help. Apparently someone sabotaged Reardon’s car so that it pumped carbon monoxide into the interior of the car.

Boyd’s cousin Johnny comes to see him at his camp. He has a message from Boyd’s father Bo, that Boyd should leave the meth dealers and their ilk alone. Bo might be doing business with them soon. Boyd continues to insist he’s doing the Lord’s work and won’t back down.

At his favorite bar, Reardon tells Raylan about the case long ago that changed his sentencing philosophy. Reardon showed pity on a criminal because of his difficult upbringing, gave him a light sentence, and then right after the guy got out of prison he ended up killing a six-year-old. As Reardon talks, Raylan sees a guy in the corner of the bar that he recognizes from outside the police tape after Reardon’s car accident. Raylan follows the guy into the men’s room and confronts him. The guy won’t admit to anything and Reardon doesn’t recognize him, so Raylan’s forced to let him go.

The next day, Raylan finds the guy in the mug shots of guys Reardon’s sentenced. His name is Virgil Corum. Reardon gave him fifteen years for a first time conviction of possession with intent to distribute. He served eight, and it’s destroyed his relationship with his ex-wife and son.

Raylan goes to see Pastor Fandi, the guy who wouldn’t I.D. Boyd in a lineup back when Boyd blew up a church with a bazooka. Fandi’s apparently doing landscaping, now, but still refuses to I.D. Boyd.

In Harlan, Boyd shows up at the meth trailer again. Boyd’s men pull a couple of the workers out a good distance, then Boyd blows up the trailer with a molotov cocktail. What he didn’t know was that the meth cooker, Gil, was still inside. Even when he’s told, it’s unclear how Boyd really feels about having killed another man.

In Lexington, Raylan and Reardon are back at Reardon’s favorite bar. Reardon slips away out behind the bar with one of the girls, only Virgil is out there with a gun. Raylan comes out the back door but doesn’t shoot. Virgil is on edge. As Raylan tries to talk Virgil out of this course of action, Reardon pulls his own sidearm and shoots Virgil.

The next morning, Ava shows up at Raylan’s hotel room with breakfast. Raylan tells her he got his new pal Judge Reardon to talk to Ava’s judge in Harlan and get her permission to leave the state so she’ll be safe from the Crowders. Ava feels like Raylan’s just trying to get rid of her and leaves angry.

At the marshals office, Art reveals to Raylan that a meth cooker named Gil was killed in a meth lab explosion the day before, and that Gil was a police informant whose last report indicated Boyd Crowder had threatened to blow up that very meth lab. Art and Raylan hypothesize that Boyd must be working for his father Bo in some capacity.

Raylan’s incensed now that Boyd, who’s out of prison because of him, has killed again. He goes to see Pastor Fandi again. He threatens to expose Fandi’s “landscaping” as the pot-farming it is unless Fandi I.D.’s Boyd. Raylan comes to find out, though, that Fandi really didn’t see Boyd that night. It was too dark. Fandi’s willing to perjure himself and I.D. Boyd for Raylan, but Raylan says no, “I’m not that guy.”

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