1879: Matthew Slade's left the Pinkerton Detective Agency. He was their best gun-hand, investigator, and tracker. Now he works from where he hangs his hat: the bawdy, bustling post-Gold Rush era San Francisco. That is, until he and his friend sea captain Amos Harding receive a desperate plea for help from the fledgling wine country to the north. As soon as the two would-be investigators arrive, they find themselves up to their spurs in trouble. Slade learns that the entire valley area is primed like a powder keg, ready to blow over a dispute between a winery, a cattle ranch, and the railroad. What are the stakes? Land, pride, the loss of one man's woman and the love of another's wife. With every person lying through their teeth and primed to kill, Slade and Amos have their work cut out for them