"When he was but a few paces away Jack Kildeer realised he was approaching and quickly grabbed for his pistol. Jake reached him first, and took hold of his arm so he couldn't pull the pistol out from his holster any further. Using his other hand he grabbed the man's hair and swiftly brought his face down hard against the solid, heavy, wooden bar. Jake let him go, and Jack Kildeer stood up - blood streaming from his nose and running thickly down the front of his shirt." Jake Base - a Texas town sheriff, but one with a difference. Still maintaining his close ties with the Cheyenne family who adopted him as a child, he's now married to the beautiful Maria Sanchez. Life is financially secure and extremely enjoyable, living comfortably on the King Spread ranch. In life, nothing ever remains the same for long. The previous sheriff, Nick Salmonist, proved himself to be a psychotic cattle thief a short time before Jake sent him on his final journey. Now though the man's sister, Anna Constance, is journeying down from Ohio with her men folk. What's her purpose? Simply to extract her own form of vengeance on anyone, anything, with a hand in her brother's demise. Two members of the earlier sheriff's cattle rustling gang break out of San Antonio prison. Do they plan to flee Texas and disappear altogether, or ride back towards Laredo in order to even up some old scores? As if this trouble is not enough to be getting on with. A working band of scalp hunters are also intent on carrying on their awful business around the town. Who will get their retribution in first?