“I wished I was back in Texas and had never left there to end up scouting in such godforsaken country for an army dressed in blue.” Such are the sentiments of John Singleterry as this gripping tale begins in the snowy wilderness. Singleterry and his partner, Peter Dunreath, are sent to scout ahead of their battalion when they’re taken captive by two fighters from the Cheyenne, a tribe not known for taking prisoners. One fighter is an old medicine woman, suspicious and eager to kill, while the other, a beautiful mixed-race girl named Marisa, wants to wait. The women tell the scouts about their tribe’s decimation during its forced relocation, and of multiple promises that have been broken—stories that force Singleterry to face difficult questions of love and desertion.