Wyoming 1875. The Union Pacific Railroad has crossed the length of the territory. Cattle grazes on sprawling grass plains. New homesteads appear by the day. But civilization is an illusion giving way to a wilderness of corruption, fear and desperation. Thrust into this wilderness is 15-year-old Paula Maddox, caught between a voracious cattle baron and the territory's most charming outlaw. To save her family's failing ranch, Paula brazenly rides a prisoner-of-war across untamed plains and mountains toward the hope of reward at Fort Laramie. Her only support will come from unlikely champions, including "Father" Waite, a US Marshal of sordid reputation. In an ordeal that both reveals and obscures the person she will become, Paula must navigate a trail as dangerous and uncertain as the men who defend her-for whom honor and depravity are often the same brand.