Two centuries following the end of civilization, Rancid Mahoney is commissioned by Gunther Ostrander: purveyor of opportunity and Head Prospector of New Canterton, a mining settlement located in what was once, but long forgotten as, the heart of the American Northwest. Mahoney is tasked with scouring the land in an attempt to locate Blackheart Mountain: the source of "Blackvein", the heavily romanticized miracle mineral rumored to be able to enhance the human body's ability to heal, effectively defeating death itself.