Barnaby Skye left the British navy for the freedom of the American West. Now a mountain man, he lives off the land, nurtured and sustained by the wilderness that surrounds him. He’s made a home with two Native American wives, Victoria of the Crow and Mary of the Shoshone, and leads expeditions through the wild he’s mastered. Skye and his wives have been hired to take a caravan of tubercular children and their families through the unforgiving landscape of the Southwestern desert. The hope is that the warm and dry climate of the desert will provide the children some much-needed relief from their pain and suffering. But they are not the only ones on the Utah trail. Other travelers fear Skye’s sick entourage and blame them for every ill that overtakes their own companies. Wherever they go, they are not welcome. As they traverse the lush canyons and red mesas of the West, they find themselves trapped between two implacable enemies: the Mormons are rebelling against the United States government and its army. Surrounded, Skye and his wives will need more than courage if they are to save the expedition from this bloody war. They will need devious cunning.