With his troubled past never far from his mind, the once-handsome Smith heads out to lose himself in the anonymity offered by the American West. When he arrives in Gabriel's Settlement, Texas though, he succumbs to the lifestyle of quick money and adventuresome living offered by a gang of wily bank robbers. It isn't until he crosses paths with Johanna Johannsen and her daughter Sadie that Smith discovers he isn't the only person in Texas with a looming past, and some people's devils are much closer to home than his own. When he learns of the Dalton Gang's plans to stick up the bank in Gabriel's Settlement, Smith must make a choice. But is he strong enough to face his past and be the man his own father couldn't be?

The war is over, Sanderson is home, and life is good ... until the Army comes knocking. They've charged him with murder and in order to clear his name, he's been ordered to track down the notorious outlaw, William "Bloody Bill" Quantrill with the help of Jerry Thomas -- or face the hangman's noose. Meanwhile, Charlotte is left in Minerva's hands to endure a complicated pregnancy and battle a rash of hydrophobee that threatens the countryside, Achilles, Cotton and her Sanderson.