Based on actual events, this is the epic story of Abilene, Kansas, at a time when the cowboy was king, might made right, and the future seemed as unsettled as the endless prairie.
Abilene, 1871. Will Merritt is fiercely protective of the cattle trade that made his fatherโs fortune. Idolizing the cowboys who flood the streets each summer, Will and his friends are drawn to Abileneโs exotic Texastown districtโa powderkeg of saloons and brothels so notorious that the mayor has hired the Westโs most famous gunman, Wild Bill Hickok, to police its streets. Yet even with Hickok as marshal, Abilene boils with deep divisions.
The townsfolk resent the migrant settlers whose new farms are slicing up the rangeland. And no one is more intolerant than Willโs best friend, Jasper, who delights in tormenting any farmer he encounters. But Will finds himself torn when he meets the beautiful and beguiling Anna, whose dignity and determination test his deepest beliefs.
Then Willโs father reveals a stunning secret that challenges Abileneโs future, one that makes the Merritts outcasts. And when Wild Billโs tenure as marshal comes to a violent head, Will realizes that everythingโhis family, his friends, and the only home heโs ever knownโcould be gone in an instant, leaving only an empty wilderness once again.
Based on actual events, this is the epic story of Abilene, Kansas, at a time when the cowboy was king, might made right, and the future seemed as unsettled as the endless prairie.
Abilene, 1871. Will Merritt is fiercely protective of the cattle trade that made his fatherโs fortune. Idolizing th...