In 1870 a fugitive from Yankee justice, Confederate veteran Sandy Thompson looks for peace and solitude in the expanses of the untamed West. His quest is complicated by his reluctant business partnership with a low-down peddler named Montana Mudd and an orphaned Indian girl entrusted to his care. Somehow, together, the three drifters must find a home in a land where thieves, vengeful enemies, and forces of nature constantly threaten. And the trio must finally come to grips with the sinister Yankee officer determined to see Sandy dead. This was Christy Award western winner Stephen Bly's first novel published.