Ben Halpern figured on being a Mississippi hill farmer before the war came and killed his pa, dragging Ben away from home. Unjustly imprisoned, Ben was tough enough to survive, smart enough to escape the profiteering Confederate commander who had trampled on his life and taken his dream. On the dodge from both armies, with a trail-wise companion named Ridge Parkman, Ben headed west, tracking Major Salem to a Colorado town embroiled in a range war of its own. Braced for a cavalry charge of Salem's land-stealing marauders, Ben and Ridge united the outnumbered ranchers in a fiery, last-ditch stand. Ben swore Salem's future was a bullet and a curse.