It's a cold, cold winter in North Dakota when the Rough Riders come to roost...

Washington Stewart used to be James Singleton, a drug dealing murderer now in the witness protection program. As Singleton he was shot in the face by a mobster (Eddie's World) and now is playing ball with the FBI as Stewart. Instead of a life sentence, he's given a new identity and another chance. If he helps the Feds sting a Las Vegas heroin connection running through Missouri and North Dakota, he'll keep his new life, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

But Stewart has his own plans, made with an air force colonel looking to get rid of his wandering wife. The colonel stumbled upon bundles of smuggled Afghani heroin and he sets up a scheme of his own to cash in. But he needs Stewart's help to do it, who still has a score to settle with the man who disfigured him for life. No problem, Stewart thinks, but before he can dodge the FBI, he has to deal with one of the NYPD detectives who came after him when he was Singleton. There's too much money, too much crime, and too much murder for anything to work out quite like anyone thinks it will.