It is January of 1872, and Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, son of the Tsar of Russia, is touring America. Ethan and his adopted daughter, Angel, stumble onto and thwart an assassination attempt on the Grand Duke. This earns them his favor, and they join the Grand Duke's party for the rest of the tour as bodyguards, working for an old friend from the war, Silas Riddle, The Mechanic.

Their job takes them to Nebraska with the young duke to hunt buffalo, and Angel learns they are more dangerous than the deer back home, and hunting men even more so.

Meanwhile, Rachel is alone back at Catahoula Plantation fretting over her own problems and the fact that her husband is "gallivanting all over the country" with Russian royalty and not there to be with her in her time of distress.

The Grand Duke's American tour ends in New Orleans at Mardi Gras. Just when Ethan, Angel, and Riddle think their jobs are about to finish without incident, they discover the real danger is just beginning, and Rachel is caught in the middle of it.