When Jesse Ross was eighteen, he was forced to learn firsthand that a person's life could be changed irrevocably by one deed, and that one act can set an endless chain of events into motion. That was something Jesse's neighbor, Gray Fletcher, had experienced years before when he was with the Texas Rangers. Gray had joined to seek retaliation against marauding Indians who killed two of his children and took his wife captive. Now Jessie has killed a Union soldier to protect his family. His only hope to evade capture is to join other Missourians in Slaughte's Rangers, an underground outfit. Gray trains Jesse and sends him off to join the Rangers. Revenge had not been enough to sustain Gray years before. How long will revenge keep Jesse going?