The wilderness west of the Missouri is a place of unknowns. For those willing to risk everything on a daily basis - including their lives - there is promise of adventure, fortune, escape, and freedom that can only be experienced in the vast frontier. When a group of young men is brought together under a common lure of trapping for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, they quickly form a bond with each other as they learn the law of the land.

The outlaw Darby brothers have been sentenced to hang until dead. Witnessing the execution are Amelia Darby, sister of the condemned men, as well as US Deputy Marshal Sam “Trusty” Dawson and Judge Gordon Hadesworth. After justice is served, Trusty hits the trail, escorting the judge - and begrudgingly, Amelia - back to Oklahoma. Ambushed en route, the judge is murdered and Amelia vanishes, leaving Trusty to believe she led them into a trap for revenge.

Maggie O'Roark knows how to walk, talk, and fight like a man. When Maggie inherits her uncle's profitable silver and gold mines, she's determined to prove she can operate them on her own, even as her wedding date approaches. When Maggie's groom is kidnapped just before the wedding, Maggie is convinced saloon owner C.V. McCready is responsible, in a desperate bid to keep her from reopening the mines.

Raised in the hills of Tennessee, Emma Simms dreams of the day she’ll escape her life of poverty to start over in the excitement of Knoxville. But when her mother dies and she’s left with no one but her stepfather, Luke Simms, her dream abruptly becomes a nightmare. Luke plans to send Emma to Knoxville all right - straight to a notorious brothel. River Joe, the mysterious Cherokee-raised frontiersman, knew from the first time he set eyes on the beautiful Emma that he had to have her as his own.

Genevieve Waters-Ewing is married. She's married to a man she doesn't love, and didn't agree to marry. The scoundrel dragged her to the altar, and now everything is going to change. In a split second decision, she runs away, and stows aboard a chuck wagon that's leaving on a cattle drive, heading north to Montana. She doesn't know where she'll go, or what she'll do, she only knows one thing - she has to leave Fort Worth, Texas.

Gray "Quick Shot" Woodson is the fastest gun west of the Mississippi. Unfortunately, he's ready to hang up his hat. Sure, being notorious has its perks. But the nomadic lifestyle - and people always tryin' to kill you - gets old real fast. Now he just wants to find a place to retire so he can spend his days the way the good Lord intended. Staring at the sunset. And napping.

Sensible Kevin O’Rourke does not believe in ghosts, in love at first sight, or in the happily-ever-after type of love. Instead, he is convinced only hard work, dedication to family, and self-sacrifice will bring contentment. When he meets Aileen O’Keefe on the steamboat trip from Saint Louis to Fort Benton, Montana Territory, his world is turned upside down as quickly as she nearly tumbles into the Missouri River. After spending a few moments in her company, he knows his life will never be the same.

After years away, Astrid Nilsson has returned home to Colorado, hoping to become Fairplay’s second doctor...and to find healing for her reoccurring consumption. Spirited and independent, Astrid doesn’t want her illness to be a burden to those she loves, so she has resisted getting serious about any man.

Ambition drove Joe Dollarhide across the parched plains from Fort Sam Houston to Dodge City. One day, he was determined to have a spread every bit as vast and impressive as his employer's. But when a wild stampede separates him from the cattle drive, it is survival that keeps him going when most would have given up. Survival and a burning need to settle the score with Benteen Calder, the cattle boss he used to worship, the man who left him for dead.

Samuel Moses Cardiff had a plan. He would graduate from the Teachers College in Albany, secure himself a position as a school master and ask his long-time girlfriend to marry him. He had a plan and just one thing stood in his way, the Civil War. Samuel graduated college the summer Fort Sumter was fired upon and he returned home in time to be enlisted into the 42nd New York Infantry Regiment. His life was put on hold.

Jessica Pratt is only 10 when her world is destroyed. After witnessing unspeakable acts of violence, she flees for her life, becoming lost in the untamed California wilderness. Terrified and alone, she fights for survival as each step takes her further away from everything she has ever known. For nearly a decade Jessica calls the mountain home until tragedy strikes once again. Forced to reenter a world that is controlled by men, Jessica transforms into Jesse for her own protection.

Duel McClain has lost everything he's ever loved: his wife, his son, his sense of self. But when a strange twist of fate - and a poker game he'll never forget - leaves an innocent little girl in his care, Duel vows to defend his new family to his very last breath. If only he knew a single thing about taking care of babies...Just as Duel swears his life can't get any more complicated, a beautiful woman stumbles into the light of his campfire, desperate for help. Jessie Foltry is hungry, tired, and running for her life.

When Luke McCutcheon finds Faith Brown about to give birth in her rickety wagon, his first instincts are to ride for help. Instead, he stays and delivers a beautiful baby girl. Unable to leave the pretty young widow and her little son and newborn unprotected in the Montana wilderness, he brings them along on his family's cattle drive, to the absolute delight of the other friendly cowboys.

Cassie Angel is used to taking care of herself. With a spirit of adventure, and a need to stay out of harm's way, she departs a dying Nevada town for the golden opportunities that await in California - along with a new life. When charming Sam Ridgeway shows up, claiming to know her uncle, and offers her protection in her travels, she has no idea there is an ulterior motive involved.

Swept away when her wagon train attempts a difficult river crossing, Ruthy MacNeil isn't all that upset at being separated from the family who raised her. All they've ever done is work her to the bone. She prayed for a chance to get away, and then came the raging flood. Alive but disoriented, she's rescued by Luke Stone...so unfortunately, there are more chances to die in her immediate future. Luke is heading home to reclaim the ranch stolen from his family.