Set against the panoramic backdrop of New Mexico, Sonora, Arizona and California in 1867, Jubal Quinn is desperate. He is a black trooper in the newly formed 10th Cavalry accused of murdering a white man. Behind bars and doomed to hang, his only chance is to escape from the stockade with the help of Billy Songbird, a wayward, half-breed, Kiowa teenager. Hot on their heels is Lieutenant Sam McAlister, a man whose devotion to duty has turned to obsession. Blasting a trail of blood headlong through the Southwest, not even the love of a beautiful Mexican girl can deter Sam. The chase can only end when either he or Jubal Quinn is dead.