Tom Dansser always felt trapped by the way people lauded him for his natural way of handling difficult situations. Freedom for him was out on the Great Plains and scouting for Col. Kearny. From the time he drove his horse onto the prairie to escape the two highway-men on his back trail, he found himself hip-deep in the very thing he tried to avoid. After thwarting a vicious Crow warrior, Eats Hearts, to save the two highwaymen from torture, he is driven into a friendly Cheyenne village. Cherished freedom and his job as scout quickly fade with his involvement in the Cheyenne village-especially when his gaze falls upon the lovely Lorri-ahna and her grandfather, the old Seneca trader. With each new atrocity brought on by the Crow warrior the scout becomes more deeply involved. With great conflict of spirit in Dansser, the Cheyenne look to him to stop this devil Crow warrior from continually wreaking havoc on them all.