Little Brooks lives, hunts, and rides with the Plains Indians. While with them, he witnesses first hand a massacre of a pioneer woman and her two children. This act spurns hatred and bigotry between the communities of the White Settlers and Native Americans that would be felt for over 100 years. Can Little Brooks lay to rest this social strife with the truth he has witnessed?

When John Stafford, a young man from a wealthy Philadelphia family, graduates from college in the 1860s, he ventures to the lawless Northwest to satisfy his basic urge to put himself to the test in meeting the challenges of a trying environment. Adventure is what he seeks, and adventure is what he gets. Stafford experiences many turbulent twists and turns in his life. He marries, Little Dove, a beautiful Indian woman of Hidatsa descent. He is accepted into her tribe following his ingenious strategy to defeat his wife's wrathful Blackfeet suitor. And Stafford accepts a request by President Abraham Lincoln to form a highly proficient clandestine fighting force to help the Indians defend themselves against the widespread tyranny. His skilled force consists of several relatives and close friends-black as well as white, male and female, along with a number of Native Americans. Their exploits involve confrontations with river pirates, whisky peddlers, a tragic massacre by unauthorized military action an Indian reprisal, and a marauding gang of cutthroats.

Will Bucklett walked away from the brutality of Marysville prison, determined to put the atrocities of the senseless war forever in the past. His one desire was to return home to a loving family and with brighter expectations. But little did he realize Fate had a very different idea for his future. As he and his younger brother bury their mother, they received demoralizing information. Their father, Salas Bucklett, was being held captive by John Bullard, of the late Union Army. Who having lost his commission as colonel, turned into a barbaric terrorist. Major Salas Bucklett of the Confederacy had previously outwitted Colonel John Bullard of the Union Army out of a shipment of gold bullion for the South. Bullard holds Bucklett personally responsible for his disgraceful downfall. He is accompanied by Evie Plummer, his malicious mistress, whose morals are lower than a snakes belly and has a heart colder than the snowcapped Rocky Mountains; she's matched only by the coldblooded killer and militant deserter, Elkhart, Bullard's ferocious and vicious second-in-command. Will, his brother, Dain, and their half-breed friend, Booger Red, trailed the merciless cutthroats through the Indian Nation, across the high plains of north Texas, and into the mountain backwoods of Colorado. During their search, they are ambushed by remnants of Bullard's desperados, fought off a war party of Cheyenne warrior at a Purgatory way station; thereby rescuing the lovely Trin Houghton. Seemingly, fighting off misfortune at every turn in their search to find and free their father. Persistence and the six-guns can be convincing tools, but without the courage and tenacity of the beautiful Juanita, and the resourcefulness of a whorehouse madam the outcome of Bucklett's Pursuit could have been devastating.

Englishman Jerome Westphal has come to the antebellum Illinois prairies on a hunting excursion, bagging elk, wolf, bear and panther. When a legendary white buffalo calf is born, many see it as a prophetic sign, but Westphal sees only a chance to add to his trophy list. When Lycurgus (Surge) Sherwood confronts Westphal and attempts to protect the calf, the Englishman is undeterred and abducts Sherwood's most trusted friend, his loyal wolf companion Lupa. Includes the short story Child of the Storm, in which Lycurgus first encounters the wolf, Lupa.

Jeb never learned that he was an illegitimate child. Those who knew him did not dare call him bastard. He was gentle. He was tough. With little effort, he took care of himself, having learned by being brought up in isolation, deep into the timber of the Ozark Mountains. Exhibiting these traits, he did both good and bad things, both of which tended to be excessive, even in the midst of war and lawlessness.

In 1861, Jimmy Carl Gray and Lew McManus travel west to escape the horrors of the American Civil War and to seek silver, wealth, and peace. Their plans are changed, however, when the Texas Brigade invades the New Mexico Territory. The ambitious miners are forced to join the Confederate Army, unable to avoid the war they left behind.

Although mired in violence, Jimmy and Lew make the acquaintance of several intriguing characters. They meet a Mescalero Apache healer named Rodrigo Red Water, an unforgettable Colorado gold miner named Dirt Bradshaw, and even Wild Bill Hickock before he became a legend.

The Southwest is a wild place, full of diverse people, who face battles and other struggles as their various stories unfold. In this wild and colorful journey through their lives, these characters discover love, fear, greed, and the thirst for revenge as they struggle to live through a war that tore a country apart.