The story is narrated by a musician in a Western saloon, who sings a tale of Lucky Luke and his sworn enemies, the Dalton brothers: Joe, William, Jack, and Averell.

Betting informs them that their uncle Henry Dalton has died by hanging and has willed his considerable inheritance to them, on the condition that they kill the judge and jury who sentenced him.

The Daltons escape from jail and offer a deal to Lucky Luke: cooperate and (ostensibly) get a share of the inheritance, or refuse and be killed.

However, every time they find one of their intended victims, Luke manages to play some trick on the Daltons so that they believe their target is dead.

Luke leads the Daltons on a high speed mine track ride at the end of which O'Connor awaits, disguised as a ghost.

He persuades the Daltons to let him kill himself by playing Russian roulette, only to then privately reveal to Luke that his gun "miraculously" shot blanks.

After the rodeo leaves the already dimwitted Averell in a daze, Luke leads the Daltons to believe that he successfully killed the judge.

This book was reissued in 1981 in album format as part of the standard series (T17 La Ballade des Dalton).

Also in that year, La Ballade des Dalton was adapted as a comic strip in the 16/22 collection by Dargaud.

The comic book was reissued in album format in 1986 and became part of the standard series (T25 La Ballade des Dalton et autres histoires).

Jury member #1: The character Ming Li Foo first appeared in Le Vingtième de cavalerie.

A character with the same name but a slightly different appearance played a minor part in the previous film Daisy Town from 1971.

Jury member #3: Similar psychedelics to those encountered with meeting Snake Feather can be seen in L'Héritage de Rantanplan.

Jury member #7: The scene where the Daltons derail a train, which consequently runs through the scenery and ends up in a town, is taken from Jesse James.

Jury member #8: The undertaker Mathias Bones was a central character in the 1971 film but made his first appearance in the Lucky Luke album Les Rivaux de Painful Gulch.

[citation needed] One of the portraits in Collins' office is a caricature of Pierre Tchernia as a prisoner being led away by police guards.