In 1885 Dave Smith undertakes to track criminal Cassius Harding to Kansas. The man now operates as Josh Hardton, successfully amassing thousands of acres through a cunningly engineered river bed diversion and a bribed resurvey. Landowners are angry at losing valuable land through clever manipulation and outright fraud, and a shooting war threatens. Dave resolves to work smarter than his previous encounter with Hardton. Dave has several run-ins with Lucy Allen, Hardton's fiancee. Her perturbed reaction is to use a gun against Dave's reprehensible behavior. Her vow is to kill him the next time....

In 1880 West Texas, Dave Smith seeks a way to stay alive after choosing to run away from a family scandal in St. Louis. Dave encounters drunken Red Talbot and learns a hard knock lesson in a one sided fistfight. Pinto Larson, wily owner of The Checker Board ranch, believes Dave Smith can become a seasoned drover with training from Sam Eagle Feather, the Cheyenne Indian adopted by Pinto.
While the two are at a remote line camp, they rescue a battered woman. Sam acknowledges he has feelings for the woman and takes her to safety. Ignoring laws relating to Indians, trouble develops for both...

By 1883, Dave Smith and Sam Eagle Feather Larson leave West Texas when bounty hunters pursue them. Finding a way to survive by chasing wild horses, the two settle into a horse camp where they round up likely horses for re-sale in El Paso. One magnificent herd leader has a reward on its return to the owner, Stan Piper. Dave agrees to break the wild stallion and sets about the dangerous task with help of a large Percheron horse that is three times the size of the herd stallion. Complications begin when Dave locates his missing girl-friend, Dolores Alconda and attempts to rekindle their loving...