March 1888. Northeast Texas. President Grover Cleveland faces off against Benjamin Harrison in Washington, the worst snowstorm in history rages across the central United States, the Indian Wars are over, the Texas Longhorn, long the staple of cattleman, is being replaced by the more beefy Hereford, and Texas Ranger Jim Acker, after twelve years with the service, decides to trade his guns for a pitchfork and a hoe and recline on a creek bank of his youth with a straw in his mouth. When he returns home to the family ranch he finds his old uncle in bad health and their future in turmoil. Local land seekers headed by a true devil's advocate, by stealth, wealth and death, are taking over the smaller area ranches. In addition, a man the old ranger sent to prison five years earlier has been released, a man who swore revenge and sets out to get it. Jim Acker finds himself torn between his principles, his livelihood and his life. This is his story.