It’s 1878, and Dr. Jacob Cotter has assumed the role of updating his Texas physician colleagues at educational meetings throughout his home state. Cotter is returning from Dallas to his home in Endura, Texas, via train, which gets derailed outside of Jennings, Texas, by outlaws posing as hostile Comanches. Land developer, Tory Manning, orchestrated the train disaster to thwart efforts of Washington, D.C., allowing the treaty land of the Comanches to remain in Indian hands. The attack is to kill Abner Worthley, a Comanche Indian Affairs Officer from Washington.
Worthley is murdered. However, Cotter and a young woman survive.
Cotter’s train wreck injuries leave him with memory loss dating back to his time in 1868 when he was a bounty hunter. He does not recall being an MD, a husband, and a father, or what happened during the train sabotage. Cotter and the female survivor are rescued by Comanches, who help the two recover. President Rutherford Hayes has decreed that the country’s mission to develop and settle the West includes isolating Indians who obstruct the country’s goal—Hayes sides with Manning. Cotter recovers and sees his role as a gunfighter now as championing the plight of the Indians. Conflict between Cotter, Manning, and Hayes creates news that reaches Cotter’s wife and family, who mobilize to Jennings, Texas. A significant conflict stimulates bullets and dubious diplomacy.
Author Peter Glassman 