Chased by bandits, stagecoach passengers race for their lives. Eleanor Gates is a long way from Baltimore. Love for a cavalry lieutenant has lured her across the western plains, to an outpost so remote that it can only be reached by overland stage. Accompanying her on this dusty, uncomfortable journey is her aged aunt, a leering salesman, and a mysterious stranger named Riley. As dusk falls, Eleanor spies a dust cloud on the horizon - a band of comancheros come to rob the stage, and kill its passengers. Riley's quick shooting wards off the bandits, but the driver is fatally wounded. It's up to him to get them to safety, but he's not sure he wants to take them there. His real name is Cameron Black, a notorious outlaw who will hang if he sets foot inside an army fort. But there are women in danger, wounded to think of, and the comancheros will strike again soon. There's no way to go but forward.