Nick Cashman had few friends in Crooked River, Oregon. He reckoned he'd been there on the run for long enough after "mauling" a skunk of a man to death in Lander City, Wyoming. Now was his chance to move on with Peyton, the gambler, wanting a herd taken through to Wyoming. At least it was "better than a 20-year stretch in jail" if the truth of his past was exposed. But to go would mean leaving lovely Mary Ballard and her brother alone on their range...