When Clovis decides she wants to leave her husband, Rowdy tries to help her out the best he can.
A former gunfighter attempts to make sure that his kid brother doesn't follow in his footsteps.
Rowdy and Gil ride into a seemingly-deserted town to look for strays. However, they encounter first the caretaker, and then a mother and daughter who claim the caretaker is holding them hostage.
[i]Cranky Wishbone ponders his aches and pains , and oncoming old age . A fork in the road puts Mushy and him in the path of a mining town and a willing widow . Wishbone's straightforwardness and morals lead him into more than he bargined for , and choices that will impact him and the Gil Favor drive team .
When Quince and Simon are trapped in a cave-in, new drover Ed Rankin and his friend Jerry Boggs offer to get some blasting gel and free them in return for $500.
Rowdy recruits a group of Indians to accompany the cattle drive through Pawnee Indian territories, and the half-white leader, Jacob Yellow-Sun, agrees. However, Rowdy's and Yellow-Sun's men both disagree with the decision and tempers flare.