A brand-new, wild, and thrilling western in Ralph Compton's Sundown Riders series! His wife is gone to tuberculosis, his reputation was lost in the war, most of his life has already passed by, and now, even his horse has been taken by colic. All Carpenter has left are the men from his Army company. During the journey to California to reunite with them, he strikes up a friendship with Rafael Silva, an educated man making for the same town to start up a rifle factory. When they arrive, Carpenter's former brothers-in-arms actually try to run Silva out of town, despite the much-needed factory. There's trouble afoot, and Carpenter has to choose between his new friend and the ones who stood with him through the war. His old comrades just aren't who they used to be, but then, neither is he.

In this roller-coaster new installment in best-selling author Ralph Compton's Sundown Riders series, a young cowhand faces a trial by fire on his way to a new home and an old love. Fresh from a successful trail drive, cattle hand Seth Coe is feeling flush, especially after a lucky streak at the poker table. But his good fortune earns him a dangerous enemy, notorious tinhorn gambler Hannibal Fisher, who is none too happy about being cleaned out. The innocent Coe starts the long ride back to Texas with big plans to buy his own ranch. All he needs now, he figures, is a wife. To his amazement, in tiny Prairie Fire, Kansas he meets the perfect woman, his childhood love Josette Dubois. But she is under the thumb of her brutal father, who will stop at nothing to prevent her happiness, including killing Coe - that is, if Fisher doesn't get there first...