Swift Justice in the American West. At age 16, a guilty verdict hurls Jeremiah Rebourn across a hot Arizona desert in a prison wagon on his way to Yuma Territorial Prison. The year is 1876. Left for dead after an Apache attack on the wagon, Jeremiah alone survives. He wakes to find himself blindfolded, shackled, and enslaved to a cruel, mute taskmaster. His only companion becomes the ever-present noose around his neck that forces him to do its bidding. He labors hard in a gold mine for days, months, years. He awakes one day to discover his irons and blindfold gone...and an unexpected message. Now equipped with uncommon strength and a deep distrust of his fellow man, he sets out to begin a life. Balm from a Gentle and Quiet Spirit. Emily Johnson, at finishing school in Boston, is summoned west to Colorado by her ailing grandmother. She arrives in Cedar Ridge and soon attracts the attention of Jeremiah. This strong, silent rancher draws Emily's interest as no other man has ever done. Will her love break the chains that enslave his heart? Will Jeremiah grasp that God is using the evil done to him and his present trials for a grander purpose?