Led by the beautiful and resourceful widow Ruth Macken, the settlers battle harsh winters, renegade opportunists, and the destructive lure of gold. Through these brutally demanding experiences, young Bendigo is forged into a man. But when he travels to New York to reclaim the love of Ninon, his childhood sweetheart, Bendigo is faced with new challenges. Will hard-edged instincts, honed from years in the mountains, serve him in the big city? Does Ninon’s heart belong to the lights and glamour of the theater? And if his destiny deems it so, will he be willing to leave the community he toiled so long and hard to build?

    He was Renno, the White Indian, the mightiest of all the Seneca braves. Now the settlers came to sweep over his home and hunting grounds, with their strange ways, their fiery weapons - and with the beautiful Englishwoman Deborah. Her Land: Both English and French claimed the verdant New World. Some came to settle, some to steal and wage war. Each man, woman and child found a new life. A harsh yet thrilling fate awaited Deborah--one that few women dared dream and fewer still would ever know.

    And Hell Creek is hell on earth.

    But no one he'd ever sent to prison hated him more than the vicious Apache Kid. When the Kid escaped and kidnapped Healy's wife, the scout realized his woman was the lure and he himself the intended victim. The Apache Kid would decide when and where the pursuit would end, but Frank would be damned if he'd let any low-down sidewinder threaten his woman and live to tell about it.

    And somewhere out in the darkness a killer waited for another chance to silence the past forever...