Law was a rare commodity on the vast cattle ranges and a man had to fight if he meant to hold on to what he owned. A rancher dispensed his owned justice when he caught those who stole his livestock, but Titus Sawyer lost more than cattle when rustlers raided his Red Diamond spread. Men were killed, too, slaughtered in a dreadful ambush, so, when he summoned his nephew Frank to track down the killers his desire to punish the culprits was deeper than justice; it was revenge.

Tom Belman has been drifting west since the end of the civil war, lured by tales of wealth and verdant valleys in the territory beyond the far sierras. In the Texas panhandle, however, close to the Canadian River, his progress is interrupted when his horse is stolen. His pursuit of the young thief leads to an unfriendly reunion with a former soldier in Tom's unit, Lou Currier, who is now sheriff of a small town called Ortega Point. A subsequent lynching compels Tom to find and return to her home an unknown girl who is also being sought by Currier's posse. But the girl is not easily dissuaded from her investigation into the affairs of businessman Andrew Willis and when she returns to Ortega Point she puts herself and Tom Belman into a deadly situation.

The war has been over for three years but only now is Charlie Jefferson returning home. If he has changed during his absence, so too have the inhabitants of the Wyoming valley he left behind. Neighbourliness has been replaced by greed and hostility; the cluster of buildings around Sam Flint's trading post has developed into a small township where gun-carrying saddle-tramps congregate; and a man called Brent Deacon is forging an empire at the expense of the original settlers. Choosing to interfere on behalf of Lars Svensson, who is accused of murder, brings Charlie into conflict with the dangerous Deacon, but the reasons for their animosity are much more personal.

Since the signing of the Laramie Treaty six years earlier, the tribes of the Plains have practised their nomadic lifestyle within the boundaries of the lands set aside for their use. The dwindling herds of buffalo and deer which provide the staple requirements of their existence are a growing source of discontent but while the Americans, the wasicun, stay out of the tribal lands the tenuous peace is maintained. One word, however, uttered at a riverside meeting with 'Yellowstone' Kelly, raises Wes Gray's concern that that peace might soon be broken, that white men might breech the borders of the Great Sioux Reservation and bring with them the turmoil of war. The object of their trespass, to gain that for which men will risk all. Gold.

Cassie Edmond was puzzled by the odd behaviour of those around her. First it was the curious bark from their dog Butte, then the old Ute called Charlie who sometimes called to trade for coffee and flour but now sat silent on his droop-headed paint at the yard gate. Finally it was her father, lifting down his Winchester to go hunting for meat when the meal she'd been preparing was ready for the table. But when Brad Edmond returned home, carried by Charlie Ute and a stranger, his life slipping away, his back shredded by shotgun pellets, it was the start of a night of unexpected violence for Cassie, and days of trouble for the stranger Walt Ridgeway.

It is meant to be a day of celebration in Mortimer, Texas, but everything changes when Charlie Jefferson arrives in town. Left for dead after a brutal ambush and robbery, Charlie is intent on finding the man who did this to him. En route to Mortimer from the wastelands where he was left to perish, Charlie stumbles upon a dying Texas Ranger. Unwittingly, he is drawn into a plot involving the town's council. By showing mercy, Charlie becomes part of the plot, whether it ties in with his plans or not. Charlie's mission in Mortimer is no longer personal. The fate of the whole town rests with him.

Blamed for the murder of a prominent politician, gambler Dan Freemont is forced to flee Nebraska. Pursued by the real killer's henchmen he arrives at the small Wyoming town of Beecher Gulch where he hopes a planned rendezvous with a US Marshal will prove his innocence. But settlers are being attracted to the area and a conflict is developing between the newcomers and Carl Benton the cattle king of the territory. Mistaken for a town-taming lawman brought in to oppose the cattlemen, Dan is soon involved in the dispute and becomes a target for Benton's gunmen. As the fight builds to a climax, Dan's Nebraskan pursuers begin to close in on Beecher Gulch.

Luther Drummond, owner of the Diamond-D ranch, the largest cattle spread around the Montana township of Bridger Butte, is buying up land vacated by settlers who have been forced out by a ruinous winter. Rumours abound, however, that many of the misfortunes suffered by the settlers are not the result of nature but are directly attributable to Luther's son, Dagg. Ethan Brodie, a Pinkerton detective, becomes embroiled in the affairs at Bridger Butte when he is accused of murder and stagecoach robbery. Teaming up with Claire Dumbril, the daughter of the dead stagecoach driver, Ethan vows to track down her father's killers. How will the brave duo fare and what perils await them along the way?

Cattle baron Nat Erdlatter has built his empire by taking what he wants then ruthlessly holding on to it. Even now, with the Homestead Act encouraging people to settle on range land that he has always considered his own, he believes that his needs take preference over the government's decrees. But times are changing and the citizens of the nearby town of Enterprise are angered by his latest callous act, none more so than his former ranch hands Clem Rawlings and Gus Farley, who become embroiled in an affair which can only lead to violence, and danger...

Successful prospectors in the hills north of Council Bluffs are being ambushed and killed by a gang determined to snatch every ounce of gold that is dug from the ground or panned from the streams. But when one such indiscriminate attack earns the robbers nothing but a pack of pelts, it sets in motion a chain of events leading to a bloody conclusion. Their victim is a man unwilling to relinquish his possessions without seeking revenge. To the settlers along the Missouri he is known as Weston Gray, but to those further west he is Medicine Feather, brother of the Arapaho and friend of the Sioux.

Clancy Jarrett possesses a quick and violent temper and the citizens of Brannigan are careful not to cross him. But when his stagecoach hold-up is thwarted by three trail-herders his rage cannot be contained and with revenge on his mind soon there are bodies piling up. For the cowboys, their status as heroes is short-lived and when Jarrett learns they are escorting Kate Jeavons, a dance-hall girl whose sister he has captive, to testify against him, they are firmly in his sights. Black clouds are forming overhead, but which storm will break first: the wild prairie rain, or the deadly guns of Jarrett and his crew?

Wandering ex-Union soldier Charlie Jefferson strikes up a friendship with Henry and Dave Willis in Pottersville, Arkansas. The brothers are planning to drive cattle from Texas to the logging camps in the Arkansas timberland and invite Charlie to join them. But the plan falls foul of a gang of bushwhackers called Red Masks who are terrorizing that area. To bring that gang to justice, Charlie becomes a government agent, a role which requires all his bravery and fighting skills, and an ability to deceive people -even those he likes.

Ben Joyner has no argument with the people who built their homes on the grassland near Pecos, but the cattlemen have long considered the range their own domain and now trouble is brewing. Rancher Gus Remarque is Ben's boss and believes that the dollar a day he pays buys not only a man's labour but his loyalty, too. The time is fast approaching when that loyalty might involve killing or being killed, and Ben wants to wash his hands of this dispute: he did his fighting during the war. So he quits the ranch and rides east without any intention of ever returning to that part of Texas. But a strong-willed woman and two would-be horse thieves alter his plans and he's back on the streets of Pecos when bullets begin to fly.