Smoke Jensen never wanted to kill, but fate had other plans, and the Mountain Man has left plenty of blood, tears and fury in his wake. Angus MacDougal, the father of one of Smoke's victims, wants revenge. Riding up to Big Rock, Colorado, MacDougal has decided that killing Smoke won't be enough. He intends to bring him back to Pueblo and hang him before a crowd. It's a bloodthirsty plan that might have worked, except for a beautiful young woman, and the small knife she slips into Smoke's hand.

Suddenly Smoke is on the run in the Colorado wilderness with no gun, no supplies, and twenty armed men in pursuit. Once, a man named Preacher taught Smoke how to survive in this wilderness. Now, as a brutal winter bears down, the Mountain Man will use those lessons well—not only to fight his way out alive, but also for vengeance of his own…