The American Civil War has ended. The year is 1865 and Abraham Lincoln is dead. Cullen Bohannan is a Confederate soldier who seeks to avenge the brutal murder of his beloved wife and young son.

Cullen knows that among the railroad workers at the Union Pacific Railroad, there are men who have information about the murders. In this railway project, led by Thomas Doc Durant, the United States is to be bound together by the transcontinental railroad.

The workforce performing the grueling labor consists of a motley mix of fortune seekers, gamblers, day laborers, thieves, and murderers. There is also a tent of prostitutes. Cullen Bohannan applies for and is given a position as a foreman. The railroad earns the nickname "Hell on Wheels."

The ailing railroad surveyor Robert and his English-born wife Lily suffer an attack in which Robert is killed, but Lily survives and manages to save Robert's survey maps. During her arduous journey, she is found by Cullen Bohannan and later taken in by Thomas Doc Durant, who falls into an unrequited love with her.

Among the prostitutes is Eva, who is marked on her face with a tattoo around her chin and mouth. The tattoo was made by the Indians who previously held her captive—a tattoo that cannot be removed! Elam, a freed slave, begins a relationship with Eva which, without Cullen's intervention, could have ended in death. For Durant, the construction is followed by constant threats, sabotage, and economic hardship.

Well-played, well-made, exciting.