The Buchanans are no strangers to hard times--or making hard choices. After losing a hefty number of livestock to a killer grizzly, Hunter Buchanan is forced to sell a dozen broncs down in Denver for some badly needed cash. Everything goes smoothly--until he's ambushed on the way home. The culprits are a murderous bunch of prairie rat outlaws, as dangerous as any Buchanan has ever tangled with. But Hunter is hell-bent on getting his money back. Even if means pursuing the thieves into Dakota Territory--where even deadlier dangers await . . .

Meanwhile, Angus Buchanan has agreed to guide three former Confederate bounty hunters into the Black Hills, on the trail of six cutthroats who robbed a saloon and killed two men in Deadwood. This motley trio of hunters are as cutthroat as the cutthroats they're after. And it doesn't take long for Angus to realize they mean to slaughter him as well at the end of the trail . . .

One family of ranchers. Two groups of cold-hearted murderers. So many ways to die.