Ensnared once more within the ongoing dispute between the War Department and Department of the Interior over which agency will decide Indian policy, Charles Wolfe Collins, army veteran, Irish immigrant and trusted investigator for eminent politicians in Washington, is thrust into the most perilous regions of New Mexico Territory in 1880. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs has requested that Collins delve into accusations that the military commander of the District of New Mexico has committed crimes against Apache peoples in the midst of a bloody conflict with the renowned leader, Victorio. Forced to contend with brutal terrain, treacherous outlaws, enraged Apache warriors and vastly conflicting accounts of the incident in question, there is small certainty that Charles Collins will actually complete his assignment or even get through alive.