The mysterious savior is Daniel McQuay, a loner whose overpowering bond with Chapman is as shifting as a shadow, as dark as the prairie tale he spins for the impressionable young man. For Chapman, McQuay's story of a deranged killer clings to his transient soul like a nightmare, tracking him further south and into the safe haven of a gentle Indian woman named Gwennie. His journey also takes him into the intimate deliverance of Palmer, a brash but irresistibly innocent seventeen-year old settler.

As the three adventurers carve a new life out of the endless wilderness, they face the ultimate enemy -- man -- in a life-and-death struggle that unfolds in the shadow of a legendary and avenging evil.