Dave Flood wanted nothing more than to make good. He liked being ramrod for Tom Raines's Chevron ranch and he liked Tom's beautiful niece, Nell, even better. Nell could rope and ride with the best of them, and she could handle the nickel-plated .38 she wore with deadly accuracy. Nell had come with Dave to bring the Chevron's herd into the town of Blue Mesa, and everything was going fine until three outlaws - Bill Calloway, Nap Rickard and Ed Trotter - met up with them. Dave had a past he preferred not to talk about. He had run with these men years earlier when he didn't think he had a choice. Now these lowlifes were about to expose him and everything he'd worked so hard to accomplish. If he allowed that to happen, all hopes of a good and decent life with Nell would cease to exist.