Nick Graves ran wild for years before he turned respectable and began plying his father's trade. Now he buries the dead for a living -- but the past won't die. A killer he once rode with wants Graves to pay for his desertion, and he means to hit Nick where he's most vulnerable: his family. But this time Nick's going to make sure that what's dead stays dead.

"Professor Henry Whiteoak is a salesman, a con artist, and a cheat. Traveling in a brightly colored wagon, he sells chemical concoctions and steeply priced contraptions to any and all who attend his medicine shows. When he arrives in the small town of Barbrady, Kansas, Henry Whiteoak also shows his talents in a fight and a mind that's sharper than a stiletto. While Whiteoak may be a swindler, he is not one to turn away from those who are in need...

When his daughter is hit by a poison arrow during an Indian raid, widower Paul Meakes, determined to bring the Comanche warriors responsible to justice, hires an Indian hunter to help him on his quest, only to discover that the dangers of the West are far greater than he ever could have imagined.