The story of Quantrill's Raiders, a force of Confederate guerrillas, describing their descent into banditry--the famous Jesse James gang--when the Civil War ends. It is told by Jeston Nash, a man who joined them after accidentally killing a Union soldier.

In a chaotic blast of gunfire, the James Gang fled a posse's attack -- and the infamous Jesse threw his cousin Jeston Nash a hoard of stolen cash. But dodging the law with $30,000 in a dusty carpetbag is a risky proposition. Hoping to lie low in the mountains of the Northwest, Jeston and his partner, Quiet Jack, find themselves on a journey into the dark heart of human nature -- and deadly animal instinct...

Sure, it would've been easy killing Two Diamond Joe with a second shot. But Jeston Nash only wants his prize horse back from the man, and a fast trail out of the New Mexico badlands. Together again with Quiet Jack, Nash is on a hunt that will take him through unforgiving terrain, a tangle of firebrand beauties, and even into a lawman's trust -- before squaring off with the most ruthless pack of gunmen ever to rule the desert frontier.