Captain Dan Gentry did nothing to defend himself at the court-martial held following the massacre of all but himself and Sergeant Tim McCune, as well as the loss of a herd of sixty remounts to Apaches on the way back to Fort North from Fort Starke. Four weeks later he is escorted to the gate, his uniform in tatters, his saber broken in two, disgraced and scorned by nearly all at the fort and Elk Bend, the town below Fort North. Elk Bend is home base for Caleb Ash, a part-time civilian Army scout and livery man who sells horses to the Army at a huge profit. Gentry is convinced that the massacre of his men and the loss of the horses can be laid at Ash's doorstep, but he has no proof.