Dan Killoe had a trail herd and a mess of settlers to get across unknown territory to a new land. Along the way he gave shelter to a stranger hunted by the scar-faced leader of the renegade Comancheros. This time he was borrowing more trouble than he wanted.

"It began with gold that had once belonged to Montezuma. Stolen and cached in a church in Mexico, it was recovered by two army officers who fled north for the French settlements. Along the way one stabbed the other to death. The remaining officer was eventually killed by Plains Indians, but he buried the treasure just before he died. Now Ronan Chantry, a handful of trappers, and an Irish girl whose father was killed after telling her a few vague landmarks...