When Macy Modock gets out of prison, he vows to get even with rancher Blair Bishop, the man who sent him up the river.

"Hewey Calloway, one of the best-loved cowboys in all of Western fiction, returns in this novel of his younger years as he and his beloved brother Walter leave the family farm in 1889 to find work in the West Texas cow country. The brothers are polar opposites. Walter pines for a sedate life as a farmer, with wife and children; Hewey is a fiddle-footed cowboy content to work at six bits--75 cents--a day on the Pecos River ranch owned by the penny-pinching...

Gloria Jennings went on the run when she was accused of murdering her wealthy husband back east. And when she's accused of killing her new rancher husband in West Texas, Luke is able to track her down. But when he does, he surprises himself by not bringing her in -- and actually helping her face down rival ranchers and other threats. Getting to know her, Luke doesn't believe Gloria is a killer. But there are others that do. And when they show, Luke...