Chet Hargraves hadn't planned on staying long when he rode into the small Montana town of Dead Horse Creek. He was just a ranch hand, line rider with no work between seasons, trapped by a pending blizzard before he could leave. But even before he had arrived his past had caught up with him. Perhaps he should have braved the blizzard and left as he was told to do. Chet Hargraves hated to be told what to do. It became even tougher to leave when he saw Beth again. She was the woman he's loved for so long, though she had said she could not love a gunfighter. These weren't the best reasons to stay around yet they were all he had. Chet did not realize - yet - that the reason he was told to leave was a big range war was brewing. The war was to be fought with hired guns and killers, some of the best and worst the West had seen. Chet was one of them, albeit knowingly. Before long Chet was going to see to it that this war was ended. It would be fought here in a small Montana town along the Dead Horse Creek.