The story of the peace mission from the US cavalry to the Cheyenne Indians in Wyoming during the 1870s. The mission is threatened when a civilian surveyor befriends the chief's son and falls for the chief's daughter.

In April, 2004, casualties mount in Iraq. At Quantico, choices focus on increasing troop strength or only replacing casualties. Lt. Col. Mike Strobl crunches numbers. Stung by his superior's rejection of his recommendation because he lacks recent combat experience, Strobl volunteers for escort duty, accompanying the remains Pfc. Chance Phelps, killed at 19. From Dover to Philadelphia by hearse, from there to Minneapolis and on to Billings by plane, and then by car to Phelps' Wyoming home - person after person pays respects. Kind words, small gifts, and gratitude are given Strobl to deliver to the family on this soul-searching journey. What are his own discoveries?

Meryl and Paul Morgan have separated since his infidelity. He's a Manhattan lawyer, seeking forgiveness. She's moved on, focusing on real estate sales. As he walks her to an appointment one evening, pleading his case, they witness a murder; the murderer sees them. The FBI wants them in witness protection until the killer is caught. He's already hunting them. The FBI sends them to Ray, Wyoming, a tiny ranch town, where they stay with the aging sheriff and his gun-toting wife (who's his deputy). Meryl and Paul must sort out their relationship while their New York ways bump up against those of the West. Meantime, Meryl knows two things that Paul doesn't.

A raw, powerful story of two young men, a Wyoming ranch hand and a rodeo cowboy, who meet in the summer of 1963 sheepherding in the harsh, high grasslands of contemporary Wyoming and form an unorthodox yet life-long bond--by turns ecstatic, bitter and conflicted.