When the Missouri farm boy named Jensen came west, he stared fighting, surviving and learning every brutal step of the way. He learned from a mountain man named Preacher. He learned from Indians. And from outlaws. And he learned that nothing burns the souls of men faster than the lure of glimmering gold.
From one ramshackle frontier mountain town to another, Smoke sees gold strikes - and gold fever- drawing crooks and cold-blooded killers from across the nation. Faced with an explosion of horrifying violence - along with some demons from his past - Smoke has no choice but to lay down the law. Once he does, it doesn't matter how many men and guns the outlaws bring. Because if Smoke Jensen has learned anything, it's this, in a vast, savage land, you don't back down, don't give up, and don't stop shooting until the last bad man does to his Maker.