Emotions run high in Wyoming's Buffalo Horn Valley, where dreams of a ranching empire collide with fierce passions to fight back no matter what the cost. Rory Carrick left the valley in 1861 to fight the Civil War. The place he returns to 10 years later -- with scars from the war that have healed and others that have not -- is not the one he left. Empire-builder Jackson Jones is pushing anyone and everyone aside to build the biggest ranch the valley has ever known, in rivalry with the sly and crafty Francis Oliver. Defying the two greedy jaws closing down on the ranch she will defend to the last, Rebecca Lewis and her aunt are scrapping to survive. Carrick, thrown into the maelstrom of passions over the land, challenges the powerful and defies the odds. Together, Carrick and Rebecca challenge the powerful as they stand tall against big ranches and the wild elements of the range. In a web of old friends and new enemies, in a valley where a murderer on the loose threatens to destroy everything Carrick and Rebecca are fighting for, Carrick finds that tracking down a killer is not just about justice, it is a game of life and death where the brave must not only defeat the bullies who stomp everyone in sight, but also the crafty and cunning who do their best shooting when no one is looking.