1872: The shattered South is struggling under the yoke of Reconstruction; the North has turned its attention to lands west of the mighty Mississippi. The United States is haunted by the blood that has been spilled, and only a few are ready to stand against the coming darkness. During the War, Elmore Stonebrook was a celebrated Sharpshooter for the Army of the Potomac. Known as God's Finger for the deadly accuracy of his rifle, Stonebrook fought for freedom for all men, but lost his way in the process. Judge Willard Vernon Wallace once sat on the high bench in Louisiana. He loved the law; he served the law; but the law betrayed him. Now, his gavel is the butt of his revolver and his courtroom is anywhere he can sling a rope over a tree branch. In the small Missouri town of Bitter, they run into an old friend of the Judge's, Isadora Van Horn, whose ranch is threatened by a greedy landowner. He wants everything-her land, her cattle, her body-and he's willing to do anything to get what he wants. Including making a deal with the Devil himself, a deal that includes a wolf that walks on two legs . . .