In Mormon Forge Sheriff Patrick Strong finds himself in the middle between the feuding clans of McCadys and Sartraines when he rescues Kentucky McCady from a bushwhacker and agrees to keep her affair with Goliad Sartraine a secret. Although Kentucky claims she did not see the shooter, the McCadys are ready to ride against the Sartraines, certain it must have been one of them. Strong intends to do everything in his power to prevent an outbreak of hostilities, but he is compromised when Kentucky identifies him to her grandfather as her clandestine lover.