Interspersed among these eight short stories are brief historic notes about the dramatic day-to-day lives of the early settlers.

"The rare letters Tell Sackett received always had trouble inside. And the terse note from his cousin Logan was no exception. Logan faced starvation or a hanging if Tell couldn't drive a herd of cattle from Kansas to British Columbia before winter. To get to Logan, he must brave prairie fires, buffalo stampedes, and Sioux war parties. But worse trouble waits, for a mysterious enemy shadows Sackett's every move across the Dakotas and the Canadian Rockies....

Rich beyond belief and despised by many, Flint comes home to die of cancer with no one at his side, until Nancy Kerrigan, a local rancher, needs his help in saving her ranch, and only Flint has the resources and skills to help her before his time runs out.

Joe Harbin hadn't killed a man for a fortune in gold just to sit in prison and let Rodelo collect it. But when he and his men break out and head for the stash, they end up with a pair of unwelcome partners: Rodelo and a beautiful woman with a hidden past. To get fifty thousand dollars in gold across fifty miles of desert, the desperate band quickly learns how much they need each other-—and how deep their greed and suspicion can run. At the end...

Four novel-length Western stories written during the early years of author Louis L'amour's career.