The 19th century saw the very painful and sanguinary births of both the Mexican and Texas Republics. The origin of both came at the price of a treasure of blood spilled, losses suffered and dreams crushed. In the case of Mexico, it also involved deceit, subterfuge and a woeful amount of treachery. In the case of the latter, it entailed a savage war and mass summary executions by the powerful Mexican army.

This is the story of three families, two Mexican and one Texan, their struggles against savage Indians, between staunch idealists and brutal cynics and the societies that engendered them. It also makes plain the perils of a rigidly hierarchical social system and the Scots-Irish bounty of individual initiative that propelled the westward expansion of the United States.

It further chronicles the necessary compromises and heartbreaking sacrifices that all of these developments—in individuals and whole societies—unfailingly entail.