Before he became a legend, Preacher was a trapper peacefully plying his trade in the Rocky Mountains. But people needed a hero. . .and Preacher was the only one around. Now a wagon train of pioneers is struggling westward toward Oregon through the howling winter—and a band of Arikara warriors are hot on their trail. Little do the Arikaras suspect that they're about to come face-to-face—and gun-to-gun—with a ferocious fight they never expected. . .courtesy of a wily mountain man. As Preacher struggles to bring the settlers to safety, he learns the real reason they were attacked—and begins to suspect that the secrets they've been keeping equal to a worse kind of danger. With treachery in the air, more Arikaras on the warpath, and a deadly deep freeze bearing down, trust is a thing of the past—and survival is all that matters.