The first adventure in a brand new Mountain Man series from D.M. Haggard! Orphaned at fourteen, then working odd jobs across Colorado Territory, Cody Dakota is twenty when his life changes forever. Famed mountain man Jeremiah “Liver-eatin’” Johnson walks into the mercantile where Cody works as a gunsmith, and Cody grabs his chance to follow in Jeremiah’s footsteps. Luckily, Jeremiah takes a shine to this eager youngster. For two years, Jeremiah teaches Cody about trapping, hunting, and survival in the Rocky Mountains. Then Cody strikes out on his own, testing himself against the perils of the bitter cold and snow, grizzly and cougar attacks, and encounters with bandits intent on stealing his valuable furs. As the northern fur trade declines, Cody heads for the southern Rockies and New Mexico in search of better luck. A harrowing escape from a small-town posse leads to a chance meeting with a farmer who shelters Cody, on one condition—Cody must help find the man’s son, falsely accused of horse-stealing and taken away by Mexican soldiers. Trouble is, no one knows if the young man Cody must search for is still alive, or dead…