Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and opened the territories to statehood in 1854. Settlers were able to vote whether the new states would be Free-Soil or Pro-slave. Jeff Adams returning from Mexico to Missouri tries to cross the Missouri River, but has to go through a staked claim. A young woman sees the turquoise stones on the martingale on his horse and thinking Jeff is from a Pro-slave Blue Lodge that has been raiding the abolitionists refuses to let him cross her claim until he helps her deliver her mother's baby. Jeff helps, but the woman dies, and Sarah, knows Jeff will be blamed so she orders him to leave before her brother returns with help. Jeff's Uncle Todd and old friend Sam Beckworth argue about the Free-Soil Pro-Slave controversy. Writing for the Missouri Dispatch Jeff covers the elections in Kansas and sees men lining up and voting multiple times. Jeff is surprised when Sam leads a group of Blue Lodge men voting in the Hawkins, Kansas election. One of Sam's men is killed in a gunfight after voting, and Jeff includes that in his newspaper article. It is like throwing sticks of dynamite into a bonfire. Combining hot-tempered opportunists and a few idealists with fraudulent politics, and violence flourishes. Jeff hears that Sarah's cabin has been burned in a raid, and she may have been molested. President Pierce appoints Andrew Reeder governor and he vows there will be no fraud in the next election. Hundreds of men crossed the Missouri River and voted, but Reeder does nothing to correct the situation. Even more violence erupts, and abolitionists hire Matt Regan to lead raids in Missouri. He attacks Adams Acres, burns several slave cabins, and sets fire to the main house. Snatching Jeff's leather riata, Matt forces Jeff into the loft of the barn, ties the riata to a rafter, and drops a loop around Jeff's neck then forces him to step close to the doorway, and . . .