Gradie Huston was a loner, not part of anything but aware of everything that went on around him. After the cattle drive that brought him up to Abilene, Gradie told his boss that he wouldn't be going back to Texas. What he didn't say was that Abilene was his home-the place he'd run away from when he was fourteen to escape a brutal father and the mean minded townspeople who thought the Hustons were ragpicking trash. But Gradie couldn't have picked a worse time for a homecoming. His father and older brother had been caught rustling cattle and were lynched by Brad Cummings - andCummings' fierce hatred of the Hustons extended right on down to Gradie. Cummings was determined to frame him for a crime. When a murder is committed, Gradie finds almost the whole town lined up against him.