Shot in the abandoned buildings of Gary, Indiana and the cornfields of Western Illinois, The Twenty-One Lives of Billy the Kid presents a fractured historical narrative without any real protagonist, one in which the titular character goes mostly unseen - Billy the Kid as the always-off-screen assailant, as a ghost’s laugh, as a shadow on the road.
The hills around the mining town of Rock City are infested with outlaws. Sheriff Preston, a gentleman sheriff, prefers to disarm the outlaws with cunning strategy instead of using his gun.
Delphine is a sweet innocent young girl, her new best friend pulls her into a world where she falls in love with a local pretty boy. Working her hardest to make him love her drags her into prostitution.
Returning from the war to his father's California sawmill, Bob Cameron takes up with Hinky Dink, a cocky Englishman and man of the road. Ignoring a "no trespassing" sign on Cameron's property, Hinky is caught in a steel trap; Cameron, seeking aid, is threatened by Eben Beauregard, an old southerner, but the appearance of Antonia "Tony" Lee, Bob's childhood friend, quells his temper.
Fernanda, a cook, returns to her land in the rugged desert of Chilca in search of her late father’s secret recipe, where more than one obstacle awaits her.
A young cowboy has a magical pencil that brings anything he draws to life. However... he can't draw! When a mysterious out-of-towner arrives in the town, will our hero be able to draw his weapon on time?