The Lone Ranger is the only survivor of an ambush by the Cavendish gang on a detachment of Texas Rangers. Tonto, a childhood companion stumbles across the injured Ranger and nurses him back to health.

Although writer Fran Striker never gave the Lone Ranger an official name, John Reid and Luke Hartman have been used as the character's "real" identity in the 1981 and 2003 films respectively.