John Russell (Hombre), the protagonist of the novel, is a mustanger, chasing green horses, harness-breaking them, and then selling them. Three parts Caucasian, one part Mexican, he was kidnapped by the Apaches as a child and raised by them until he was twelve, at which time a man named James Russell took the boy with him, gave him a name, and raised him for five years. Then John left Russell for an Apache reservation, where he served on the police force for three years before going off by himself as a mustanger. When James Russell dies, he leaves his place to John, who is reluctant to claim it but finally agrees to do so. On the way to Contention, Arizona, to take up his inheritance, he becomes entangled in an affair with men who are the very antithesis of him: prejudiced, dishonest, and self- serving.

Chief among these...