Sometimes the past catches up with a man and he can't outrun it. Jack Brady, at just thirty years old, has seen more of the hard edge of life than most. He's worked cattle trails, ridden shotgun, and won a reputation as a hired gun. Then, as the American-Mexican War is breaking out, he is jailed after a fight in a small Texas town. Brady is at his lowest when a preacher arrives and reminds him that there is still a chance to redeem himself and to honour his dead father. He determines to enlist with the fledgling Texas Rangers and joins Robert Gillespie's rough riders as they ride into Laredo. But Brady has a man on his tail who is bent on revenge. And he faces the kind of trouble a woman can bring when she has to be protected. This is one last chance to rub out his bad reputation, if he can survive - but not many Rangers do that.