The Journey Begins is the first novel in the Will Cannon, Bounty Hunter, series. Adam and Abel Lee return from the Civil War to find their family murdered, their plantations stolen and the Union Army looking for them because they have been framed for the theft of the Yankee payroll in a train robbery. The Lee brothers soon find out the Blackman Gang is to blame for the crimes but the Blackman Gang flees the area and Adam and Abel fake their own deaths and start their journey west. Their goal is to establish a home base and begin the search for the Blackman Gang. They have to fight corrupt yankee soldiers, many hostile Indians, cutthroat rawhiders, Mexican bandits and some other dirty polecats before they reach the Mora River Ranch. Adam and Abel take the identities of two dead settlers and Adam becomes Will Cannon and Abel becomes Joe Cannon. This book sets the stage for the long bloody hunt for the Blackman Gang.

The governor of Wyoming asks Will to find out the truth about a group of strange people living in the Valley of the Tucas. Will knows this tribe of mixed-breed outlaws are causing part of the trouble in the area, but he also thinks a gang of white outlaws are doing some of the robberies and murders there. Will hopes the white outlaws are the Blackman Gang. Will rides to Wyoming and finds plenty of trouble but he enlists the help of some young cowboys and together they fight the outlaws.

Will Cannon leaves his Mora River Ranch and rides the trail alone to the small town of Lost Horse Mesa to continue his search for the Blackman Gang. When he gets to Lost Horse Mesa, he finds a gang of outlaws robbing and murdering innocent victims there. Will saves two young bronc busters from two hired killers and the bronc busters join the fight against the outlaw gang. Will also meets a beautiful woman that is about to have her ranch stolen by the outlaw gang. Now Will must discover why the outlaw boss, Major Radclift, wants the land and is willing to murder innocent people to get this ranch land.

Will Cannon's brother, Joe Cannon, and some of the cowboys from the Mora River Ranch have taken a string of horses to Silver City to have a horse auction there. When Joe and his men don't return on time, Will Cannon rides the trail alone to the silver mining camps around Silver City. Will has to rescue the men and dispense some frontier justice to the outlaw gangs operating out of Silver City.

Will Cannon rides into El Paso looking for two outlaws that had escaped his trap in San Antonio. While he is El Paso he learns that a beautiful, young woman has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom by the ruthless Mexican bandit, El Diablo. Germantown is deep in Mexico and it is the hideout for many cutthroats. Saving the young woman is Will's first concern but he also wants the ten thousand dollar reward for the safe return of Nita Beal. Will Cannon rides alone to find Germantown and deal with El Diablo and his band of murderous Mexican bandits.

Will Cannon takes his adopted children to Taos, New Mexico, to see the circus, and Will meets a beautiful woman there who performs in the circus. Two days after the circus leaves town, a bank gets robbed in Taos and a man is murdered. Will and his brother, Joe, go investigate the crime, and the evidence leads them to some men who work for the circus. Will sets out alone to discover the truth about the circus.

Will Cannon rides to west Texas looking for the Blackman Gang, but as soon as he gets there he finds a Texas Ranger, Duke Wills, being attacked by a group of Comanches. Will helps Duke fight off the Comanches and then he finds out about a gang of outlaws that have been making moonshine and selling the moonshine and rifles to the Comanches. Will has to ride into the No Man's Land known as the Indian Nations to find some of the outlaws. He also finds a beautiful woman in Amarillo that needs his help. Will and the Texas Rangers fight the Comanches and the outlaws in this classic western adventure.