When the A.A. Western Detective Agency needs to hunt men down, it turns to its toughest operatives: former cavalrymen Oswin Diehl and Ira Hoop and their Mescalero Apache scout Eskaminzim. So when the Double-A is asked to catch bank robbers fleeing across Missouri toward the Indian Territories, it sends the three to head the gang off. Along for the hard ride is Hoop's wife and Eskaminzim's sister, Onawa, who's tired of waiting around to learn who won't be coming home from the A.A.'s latest assignment.

But when the four reach Missouri, they learn that there's much more at stake than the holdings of a single bank. The "gang" they're after is actually a company of former Confederate Cherokees-and they're backed by a powerful cabal of conspirators bent on avenging the South's defeat in the Civil War.

What starts out as a chase to track down bandits turns into a battle for the future of the country...one our outnumbered heroes can't possibly hope to win.