We are somewhere out west and it's gray and bleak but there's life aching to make a go of it in the form of a family. Tom, a former slave, and his Native American wife, Esther and his 17-year old stepson, Delsin. Their homestead and surrounding community have suffered from frequent whirlwinds bringing debris from far off places. This night, a whirlwind like no other, with a strange light embedded in its shape bares down on them.  All take shelter, but Delsin remains in their barn to nurse his injured mare. Afterwards, Delsin is told, despite his mother's objections, that sleep must wait, he is to gather scraps of metal that have flown in on the storm and to use his injured mare to haul the metal to the scrapper in town to aid his family. Delsin decides to spare the mare, and pull the cart to town himself.  On his journey, he spots a lantern flickering against the curtains of a large four poster bed plopped down in the middle of a field by the storm. It looks like a ship on the dark ocean. In the bed, asleep, is a beautiful young man of Delsin's age, someone bent on revenge for the death of his father. Both will never be the same upon their meeting.

     Meanwhile, Delsin's father has lost all his horses and neither they or their carcasses can be found. And he is not alone. Talk of a horse thief that has taken advantage of the storm ricochets through town and anyone who's a stranger is apt to get a bullet if not a hangman's noose.

     Meanwhile, in some Federal offices, a Cavalry leader explains how an otherworldly force has been following the Oregon Trail and taking horses. They've tried to eliminate horses as one measure to no avail. There must be a new plan of attack. And Delsin's ranch and community is ground zero for such a drastic measure.

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TO BE CONTINUED...