Life isn't easy in the 1860s on the western frontier as the discovery of gold and silver beckons prospectors, and the promise of cheap land attracts ranchers and farmers from the East Coast. It is a time of greed, lawlessness, self-preservation, and opportunity. The wayward Tom Lawson seizes the moment when he discovers a cache of silver near the town of Ribera in southern Arizona, between El Paso and Tucson. When the Lawson family receives word of Tom's silver strike, his brother Ben must decide whether to begin his medical career as planned or assist his brother. Reluctant but enticed, Ben moves from Colorado to Arizona to help his sibling. On the stagecoach ride from El Paso to Ribera, he and the other passengers are robbed. It becomes all too evident that the territory is under constant threat by Indians, renegade discharged Confederate soldiers, and disenfranchised Mexicans. "Gold, Silver, and Guns" follows the stories of Ben and five others who migrate to Ribera seeking adventure and fortune. As they discover that life in this agitated small town may pose challenges and risks far greater than the rewards, they each must weigh the price of what it takes to survive and prosper.

"Eagle Shadow" tells of a half-Native American man caught in the midst of the conflict between his two peoples and his personal struggle with divided loyalties. His story is filled with action and romance set against the beautiful but unforgiving frontier.

Known for his tenacity in pursuing lawbreakers, U.S. Marshal Frank Marlin follows a dangerous mission to quell a brewing range war on the western frontier. He's told that Cottonwood Valley, a rich fertile land in the State of Texas, is the target of the trouble. The valley's large-ranch owners blame each other for the cattle rustling, ambush killings, and other acts of lawlessness. They threaten to wipe each other out; fury on the range seems unavoidable.

During his mission, Marlin learns that a wily outlaw boss, who strikes ranches and towns from his hideouts in the badlands, perpetrates the trouble in Cottonwood Valley. When the outlaw boss hears Marlin is on his way, he offers his henchmen a large cash bounty to anyone who kills the feared marshal. Marlin must always be on the lookout for those who want him dead.

Encountering life-threatening situations and suffering serious wounds, Marlin never loses sight of his intense desire to stop the killing and cattle rustling.

In February of 1851, when Royce Oatman makes the fatal decision to take his pregnant wife and seven children across the Arizona desert alone in his haste to get to California, they are attacked and slaughtered by Tonto Apaches. Two of the children, Olive, fourteen and Mary Ann, eight, are captured and taken to the Apache village where they endure a year of slavery and deprivation. They are purchased by the daughter of the Chief of the Mojaves and taken to the Mojave village where they receive somewhat better treatment but are still slaves. After Mary Ann dies in a famine, Olive, if she is to survive, must assimilate into the Mojave tribe. She witnesses scenes of torture and savagery that disparage any thoughts of escape. When, after five years of captivity, she is suddenly returned to civilization, she must re-learn the ways of white society and never reveal the secrets of her past. Although every attempt is made to portray her as 'the virgin captive, ' rumors persist until, in a dramatic climax, Olive reveals the shocking truth to her husband.

As the Indian departed, Sallie turned to study the man in buckskin. Upon closer scrutiny of her rescuer, she wondered if she was truly rescued or in greater danger. This man certainly looked tough. He was lean and rangy like his mustang. He had the carriage and appearance of a man not to be taken lightly. There was several days' growth of beard on his face and a long, shaggy, iron-gray mustache drooping from his upper lip. Dark, piercing eyes, now focused on the departing Indian, peered out beneath heavy brows. Were he cleaned up, she decided, he might've been somewhat handsome, in a rugged sort of way. The man on the grulla mustang scanned the horizon, slowly lowered his rifle, and tucked it into a scabbard on the side of his saddle.

She took a deep breath and placed her hands on her hips. "What did he say?" Sallie demanded, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.

He shifted his piercing gaze to her, taking in her somewhat disheveled appearance. In the struggle, some of her light brown hair with its streaks of gray had escaped the confines of the bun at the base of her neck. Her dress had a tear down one arm and another on the skirt. The dark-patterned material was smudged in places with dust and grime. As he silently studied her from head to foot, she tried to hide how uncomfortable he made her feel.

Again, she demanded, "What did he say?"

He looked her directly in the eyes. "Said you were too much trouble, and I was welcome to you," he drawled in a deep baritone voice.

Faro Bantry is the young son of a wealthy New York financier. River Rapids is a Choctaw Indian. The two happy-go-lucky drovers pair up in Blackwater, Kansas, at the end of a long trail drive. On their way home to Paramour, Texas, the two men manage to get into a number of scrapes, and somehow they cheat death without ever knowing how.

But Faro and River can't avoid the shear horror that awaits them when they meet up with Cecil "S.O.L." Boyd-a tobacco chewing, Adonis-bodied ruffian who's never lost a gunfight-and his gang. It is then that they learn what the real Wild West is about, as they become party to the most savage, horrifying massacre ever committed on the lonesome trail.

Beginning where all the other Westerns left off, "Cowboys Don't Cry" provides a raw look at the life of a cowboy on the Chisholm Trail.