Wes Cauble, veteran of the Texas Revolution and ringleader of the vigilante group known as the Lone Star Brigade is determined to eradicate every Mexican, loyal or not, from the newly founded Republic. After arriving at the Eduardo de Anza Ranch, Wes and his vigilante lawmen stumble upon eight-year-old Miguel Carrigan de Anza. Cauble deputizes the boy and requests that his "new deputy" climb a giant oak tree and string a rope through a series of branches. Miguel complies, unknowing that the rope will later be used to hang his father, Eduardo. Cauble hangs Miguel's father using Eduardo's saddle as a counterbalance weight – a Dead Man's Saddle. As Eduardo strangles, Miguel's mother, Margaret, is killed by deputy June King. Cauble then orders a horrified Miguel to run back to Mexico, knowing the boy will forever be haunted with the knowledge that he strung his father's hanging rope. Months after the murder of his parents, a band of Mexican bandits led by Juan Negras find...

A former sergeant I the Union Army finds his battle to live free is not yet over when an old enemy tries to frame him for rustling, launching a chase across Texas that draws in Kiowa Indians, Mexican rustlers, Wild Bill Hickok, Charles Goodnight and George Armstrong Custer.

All found in a cowboy's journal— After Mr. Charlie died in '77, Pure took over the ranch and that's when things began to change. Along the southern scrub, what old-timers called the brasada, the rustlers had banded into large outfits and the Gunn boys were the worst of the bunch. Some folks tell that Mr. Gunn went crazy after losing his oldest son, Ethan, at Antietam in '62. And because none of Mr. Charlie's sons fought during the war, terrible stories soon spread through McMullen County that the Restons were nothing but "No-good Yankee" sympathizers. Now it wasn't any secret who started these untruths, but Mr. Charlie just ignored them. And for years, that's all there was to it. But after Mr. Charlie passed, old man Gunn took a peculiar delight in stealing =R open range cattle and re-branding them as his own, most times right on Reston land. It was like he was testing Pure. And when Mr. Gunn took off down that trail, well that's when Pure turned the =R into a gun...