Born in the early 1840's into a family of poor Irish farmers, Gwendoline O'Cavanaugh is not predicted to a life of wine and roses. Hunger and poverty mark Ireland in the decades after her birth as does the resistance against the English landlords, who own the estates but treats the tenants with nothing but cruelty and despotism.

Gwendoline is the younger sister of four older brothers, the oldest one married and has a small child, and the family is deeply involved in the resistance against the English foes. She has been raised to love her country, the emerald island, and she, too, will defend it gun in hand. She is an accomplished marksman and she is daring when it comes to confrontations with the opponents, knowing that death is a small price to pay in comparison to the poor life she lives. With this deep devotion to her cause combined with her fiery green eyes and flaming red hair, she is destined to catch the eye and capture the heart of stalwart men.

But there is no room for love in her life yet. The life of rebels is a dangerous one and when the English troops find their enemies, they are quick to destroy them. One night, the O'Cavanaugh house is arsenated and burns to the ground. Only Gwendoline and her 3-year-old brother's daughter manage to escape to the moors, unable to aid any of their relatives tragically suffocating in the roaring flames.

What happens next lies in a haze to her and she tries her best to oppress it. Panic-stricken, blinded by rage and deeply mourning the death of her family, she is accused of a crime and with a prize on her head she must flee her beloved Ireland. Together with her niece Sinnead Loreen, she crosses the Atlantic Ocean. A newfound survival instinct and a strong protectiveness towards her niece drive her, but also the many frustrations in her heart lead her path. The feeling of betraying her cause and her land is persistent, but she is also sick and tired of the struggle and killing there.

In America, the last two O’Cavanaughs travel west, in the direction of Rock Creek in the Nebraska Territory, where Gwendoline is offered a job.

On the way to the town, the stagecoach is mugged. Heiress as she is to fearless Irish warriors, she puts up a counterattack the robbers had never dreamed of and they are soon driven into wild flight. But she could not have triumphed had it not been for the handsome young stranger, who showed up in the blaze of gunfire and benevolently lent her the assistance of his ivory Navy Colts.

Gwendoline’s beauty and her skills as a marksman instantly dazzle Jimmy Hickock and when their paths cross again, he is in love. He sees her pain, even though she is very secretive about her person and past. She has fierceness and a fire in her heart which can be the servant of either good or evil powers and which he all too well recognizes from himself. Like him, she carries many wounds in the soul and knows the torment of leaving a cause important enough to her loved-ones to die for.

The friendship they develop consists of the instinctive trust between people why normally don’t trust anyone. Both are haunted persons, restless and always expecting conspiracy and conflict to follow. But in America, Gwendoline O’Cavanaugh tries to convince herself that she is safe. Her bridges are burnt and she doesn’t look back.

And so, little does she know that a person from her past might have followed her all the way from Ireland and soon will turn up, with no good intentions at all…