From the Authors of 'The Fur Seekers' and 'The Long Ride Home' The frontier ain't a place for folks troubled by any weaknesses, not with hostile tribes and wide open spaces aplenty between you and another friendly face. God-fearing mountain man Deacon knows any day trapping can end in a disaster that will test a man's faith-as well as his sorry hide. So when Deacon narrowly escapes death, he feels God has spared him for a reason. His old pal Able becomes the lord's messenger when he asks for Deacon's help with a special task...to guide a group of freed slaves and their families to a new life on the western frontier, taking a dangerous and harsh trail from St Louis to Butterfield's Trading Post. As the story of the greenhorns unfolds Deacon knows he's found his new calling. But Deacon couldn't predict the changing tides and obstacles in this trip or that the good Lord would soon present to him his greatest adventure of all, an act that would forever change Butterfield's Trading Post on a very special Christmas, in the shining mountains.