In 1884, a cowboy in the vast, largely unsettled territory of Eastern Oregon happens upon an overturned buckboard and a murdered homesteader with two killers nearby. His sense of right and wrong makes him rescue the victim's assaulted widow, confront the killers and puts them in the ground.

The cowboy and the widow form a relationship that deepens but friends of the attackers assail them until gunfire settles the score. Suicides, fatal accidents and an epidemic plauge the area and settlers that can't handle the hard times disappear.

Change is overtaking as a new county is formed, telegraph and railroad lines come, the sporting house is closed. Then, something no one saw coming.....