The most famous gunfight in history actually took place in a vacant lot at the other end of the block from the OK Corral. The gunfight was over in seconds, but Guinn argues that its fame has led "future generations to form a skewed, one-dimensional view of frontier history". To counter this, he begins with a brief account of America's frontier expansion, showing how Wyatt Earp's family "epitomised the settling of the west". He then examines the differing temperaments and motivations of the gunfighters: the overweening ambition of Wyatt, the poor decisions of his brother Virgil, and brother Morgan's murder just months after he survived the gunfight; hot-tempered Doc Holliday, a dentist with TB, who was devoted to Wyatt; boastful drunk cowboy Ike Clanton and his soft-spoken brother Billy; Frank McLaury, who had a long-standing feud with the Earps, and his quiet brother Tom, who was probably unarmed during the shootout. Guinn painstakingly describes every hand twitch and misunderstanding of the gunfight itself, until three men lay dead.