For most people, the death of Rocky Mountain Jim Nugent is solved. In June of 1874, while out riding through Estes Park, Colorado, with a friend, Nugent was shot and killed by Griff Evans. Case closed. Professor David McIntyre is not most people. When McIntyre finds evidence that Nugent wrote a manuscript soon before his death, he starts to wonder about what it contained. And if it still exists. Convinced the manuscript will shed light on the murder, McIntyre finds himself combing Colorado and Scotland in search of the misplaced manuscript, and tangled in the dealings of a crooked antiques dealer, a family with secrets to keep, and angry townspeople.