In a land of long red sunsets, Clint and Virgil Brannock had carved out a sweeping cattle spread along the lush banks of the Rio Hondo. But now Clint has been called away to fight in the Apache wars, and Virgil, driven by his ambition, is corralling mustangs on the Llando Estscado. With their family ranch in New Mexico territory threatened by men of greed and power, men who send murderers to do their dirty work, the Brannocks can only turn to one another--to hold onto an empire they have built with their sweat and blood.