The setting is Southern Montana, Crow Territory, not long after Custer's encounter with the Indians. The Crow Woman's sudden death has left Pistol, her husband, angry. Pistol is a skilled hunter, as familiar with a knife as a shotgun, aggrieved by the loss of his wife. How did he get to this place? How did he get from England to Montana, from tracking his missing brother to settling down as husband, father, Indian brother, from peace to vengeance? The death of the Crow Woman is a fire bomb, not just for Pistol, but for her family, her tribe, and the tenuous peace with the military. For Pistol, no one--not his friends and acquaintances, not common thieves, not even the U.S. Army--can keep him from his errand of justice.