At twenty-eight years of age, Joseph Carver is the youngest college professor in the whole of the United States. He is estranged from his father, the sheriff of the little Kansas town of Bluff Creek. But, when his father is gunned down during a bank robbery and his mother dies of grief shortly thereafter, Joseph is forced to face his family demons and return home. He knows where his duty lies and, after his parents' funeral, he arms himself and sets off in pursuit of the men who shot his father. His quest takes him into the Indian Nations, where he receives help of the most unexpected and surprising nature.