"When young Bendigo Shafter and a ragtag bunch of travelers settle in the rugged Wyoming mountains, they quickly come to depend on a toughness and wisdom many of them never knew they possessed." -- page 4 of cover.

Tom Chantry came from the East to buy cattle and get them to the railroad. He was a peaceful man, but when a group of local outlaws mistook him for a victim, there was lead to pay.

"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...

Slowly dying in the saddle from a bullet wound in his hip, Trace found a cave and crawled in. When he awoke there was a woman kneeling beside him attending to his wound.

Flagon and Galloway Sackett were just looking for a place to start ranching. They found a big, wide, lonely country and, at first, plenty of room. Then Bull Dunn and his two sons decided they wanted it all. When the battle for possession of the land began, Flagon was already in bad shape. He had been taken by Apache Indians, and by the time he escaped, just surviving left him in no condition for any kind of trouble. Bull Dunn's son, Curly, was determined...

After the Civil War, Dal and Mac Traven return home to find the aftermath of a guerrilla rampage of terror. The raiders have the Travens' sister and Dal's girlfriend, Kate, held captive. Now the Travens' are on their trail.