Luke Simms is the founding sheriff of the newly formed Summit County in the Utah Territory. Sheriff Simms tracks Fisk Scales high into the mountains after he finds Scales's young wife murdered in her bed. He captures Scales, but makes the decision not to kill the man on the spot -- a decision that sets in motion years of struggle to create a tradition of justice where none existed before. But while capture comes swift, conviction takes longer. Life in a growing frontier town either demands swift reparation or unfolds its willingness to let the murderer avoid his fate, threatening the founding sheriff's promise of justice to the murdered girl's mother.

Unabridged.