Flatwater, MO

When the Civil War ended, Emmett Blue didn't get the two acres, and a mule that the Union had promised. He'd been a part of the US Army's 10th Cavalry-better known as Buffalo Soldiers-but with the war over, he didn't know how to cope with civilian life. The incident at Black Snake River changed Emmett. No one ever talked about it. Unable to put the events behind him, he returned home to Flatwater, Missouri.

When John Cullen, an old acquaintance who served alongside Emmett in the 10th, showed up in Flat Water as a hired gun for Lucas Freeman, a ruthless businessman who ran the town, the horrors of Black Snake came flooding back.