Life in the Oregon Territory frontier village of Brookside is drastically changed when schemes and frauds turn violent. Families are split apart, and good citizens die in this first novel in a continuing series of life in Oregon's frontier period. Brookside, Oregon Territory in the late 1840s is a ranching and timber producing village made up of those willing to face the dangers and hardships of frontier life. Some are honest, hardworking, and family oriented while others become criminals, killers, and opportunists. Farmer and rancher Jacob Hoagland works through a rough period and, into the new year, is faced with a growing family relying on him, an opportunity for farm growth, and a community that finds it needs him, too. Irene Creighton is married to an animal of a man who believes it is a man's right to beat on his wife at will. After years of abuse, she fights back with a cast iron pan. Her husband's death leads to the discovery of his participation in land fraud within the territory. Ben Thorndyke is the village's most successful businessman. His company builds the tools and appliances needed by the timber industry and by the farmers and ranchers in the little valley. In turn, his retail farm and ranch supply emporium sell what he builds along with seed and other needed supplies. He is a community leader and friend of the governor. The county constable, Tobias Kennedy, came to America from Ireland and landed in Brookside. He gets his information through the menacing use of an oak walking stick, a constantly questioning mind, and a distinct desire for Irish whisky and Oregon brandy. These lives, along with the loves, joys and hardships accompanying them, will bring questions of criminality to a conclusion. But not everyone's life will take a turn for the better...