Retired Texas Rangers Gus McRae and Woodrow Call are content to live out their remaining years in the tiny Texas town of Lonesome Dove. Then their old friend Jake comes to town, and tells them about the incredible opportunities for cattle ranching in Montana. Encouraged by this, Call convinces Gus and many other townspeople to go on a perilous cattle drive to Montana. Gus has another agenda though: his former sweetheart now lives in Nebraska, and he hopes for a second chance with her. As the drive goes on it takes on an epic scale, ultimately becoming what could well be called the central event in the lives of all involved.
Captain Call has just buried Gus at Lonesome Dove and plans to head back to his ranch in Montana. Looking at a herd of wild Mustangs, he decides to drive them north with the help of Isom and Gideon Walker. Gideon hires Agostina Vega and Mexican Cowboys to run the Mustangs. Call leads the drive for Nebraska and runs into Cherokee Jack and a group of Indians, which almost costs him his life. In Montana, Newt and Jasper get into a shoot out in the local bar and wind up in jail. The odds of them surviving the lynch mob are slim until Dunnegan has them freed. Newt had rescued Dunnegan's wife Ferris, from a band of cattle rustlers and Dunnegan is thankful. However, Newt and Jasper will have to work for Dunnegan to keep their freedom.
A vicious new breed of killer is stalking the west Texas plains and only an old fashioned kind of lawman can stop him. That man is legendary Texas Ranger Woodrow Call. Renowned as the greatest manhunter on the Southwest frontier, Calls mission will pit him against his deadliest adversary ever and lead him to the spectacular conclusion of the epic that began with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove.
A prequel to the award winning Lonesome Dove, this story is set in the Texas Republic in the early 1840's, where the Anglo, Hispanic and Comanche cultures fight over the same harsh land. We are introduced to Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call who are young Texas Rangers ripe for adventure. They get it with the Texas-Santa Fe expedition, an ill-conceived effort on the part of some freebooters and adventurers to capture Santa Fe and annex New Mexico.
Set in the rugged American frontier, Texas Rangers Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae confront Comanche warriors, ruthless outlaws, and the brutal realities of a lawless land, forging fierce friendships and enduring tragic romances as survival comes at a heavy personal cost.