After a seven year absence, veteran of the Apache Wars Mark Talbot returns to the Dakota Territory to reunite with his brother on their family's cattle ranch to find some peace after fighting and bloodshed for over half of a decade.

But when he returns, peace isn't what he finds. Talbot's brother was murdered five years earlier when the Double-X ranch began its quest for sole reign of the Bench, a fertile and prosperous region in the Dakota Territory.

And Double-X is at it again.

The greedy ranch owner, King Magnusson, wants all of the grazing land in the Bench for his cattle. But he doesn't just take the land, he takes lives. One by one Magnusson kills off the local ranchers via his hired gun, the blue-eyed demon, Jose del Torro, a.k.a. the Storm. Del Torro, the devil personified, has the shot of an ace and the cunning of a fox.

Trouble follows Talbot like flies follow cows: Talbot meets beautiful young Suzanne Magnusson, King's beloved daughter on the train home. Suzanne wants Talbot, and she always gets what she wants. And then there's Jacy Kincaid, the little-girl-next-door, who has grown into a stunning woman, who fights Magnusson and his crew with all she has. Tangled in Suzanne's lust, Jacy's love, and King's thirst for power, Talbot finds himself not only confronted with a land war, but a love war too.

Del Torro and Magnusson together eradicate any hope of Talbot finding peace until he takes control. Fighting once more.