Washington Stewart used to be James Singleton, a drug dealing murderer under federal witness protection. As Singleton, he tried to elude the FBI and escape the country but ended up being shot in the face by a mobster instead Now with only one eye and disfigured for life, Singleton is given another chance by the FBI. After serving out some of what should have been a life sentence, he is given a new identity, some plastic surgery, a facemask and a new mission-to sting a Las Vegas heroin connection by way of Missouri and North Dakota. But Singleton--now Stewart--has a game plan of his own. He makes a deal with an air force colonel looking to get rid of his wandering wife. The colonel has stumbled upon bundles of Afghani heroin smuggled in by a returning combat pilot and he sets up a scheme of his own to cash in. But he needs Stewart's help to do it, who still has a score of his own to settle back in New York. He's going to kill the man who shot his eye out ten years ago. No problem, he thinks, except one of the NYPD detectives originally after Singleton is on his trail again. Nothing's working out quite the way anyone thinks it is, and it's become a cold, cold winter in North Dakota when the Rough Riders come to roost.