Lou Spencer, Dillard Sumner, and their fourteen Texas cowboys brought herd up to Independence, Missouri, and sold half to a wagon train heading West. Then the Texans hired on, leading the battling greenhorn pioneers across the Missouri River, through Nebraska Territory, and into the wilds pasts Forts Laramie and Bridger. With winter closing in, Spencer's men are running out of time to reach the wide-open land of Oregan. And with fortune in gold hidden in one of the pilgrims' wooden wagons - and outlaws circling like wolves - there are sure to be miles of shooting and dying still ahead.