Confederate General Robert E. Lee has surrendered. After four long years the Civil War is over, and ex-Captain Shyler 'Shy' Boedeker, late of the Michigan 5th Calvary has suddenly found himself footloose and unemployed. His ex-sergeant and best friend John Taylor offers him a partnership in his ranch in Texas, which he accepts. They quickly begin their journey, picking up a few old comrades also heading west along the way. But upon their arrival in Texas they find that most Texans are still willing to fight Yankees at the drop of a hat, and not ready to admit defeat. Reaching John's ranch, they find his house and barn have been burned down and his well salted. Realizing that staying to work the ranch would result in constant fighting with their neighbors, a fight they could not win, they decide to round up John's cattle and drive them north. It's soon apparent they are going to need more help, so John and Shy head to Brownsville where a friend of John's lives. En-route, they come across the tracks of a Comanche war party with a white female and child held captive. Not willing to leave them in Comanche hands, they plan a daring rescue. Catching the Indians drunk on stolen liquor, they rescue the woman and child during a fierce fight. After a forced march to Brownsville, they make contact with ex-Texas Ranger Joshua Williams. Times are tough in post war Texas with little cash and few jobs, and men are desperate. Joshua recruits enough men to make the drive, and they round up a herd of three thousand head of cattle and start north to Kansas. They face three months of brutal work, driving the herd through hostile Indian lands, braving storms, herd cutters, and everything man and nature can throw against them. And with them rides the beautiful widow Kelsea Stone and her young son who they had rescued. One woman among twenty men, inflaming jealousy, and pitting friend against friend in a competition for her love. Tensions mount and tempers shorten as the drive nears the end of the trail, and gunsmoke and more blood will soon be spilled. For they are among the first trailblazers across a lawless frontier where the only law is the gun on their hip.