Bitter Trail: Tough teamster Frio Wheeler hauls cotton from Texas to Mexico. But as the Civil War rages through the South, Wheeler must contend with the most difficult challenges he's ever faced, including imprisonment with the bandidos in league with Union sympathizers and the betrayal of his best friend--his former partner and brother of the woman he loves.

Barbed Wire: Irishman Doug Monahan runs a fencing crew outside the Texas town of Twin Wells, digging post-holes and stringing red-painted barbed wire for ranchers as protection against wandering stock, rustlers, and land-hungry thugs. This fencing operation is opposed by Captain Andrew Rinehart, a former Confederate officer and an old-school, open-range baron of the huge R Cross spread. Rinehart wages a barbed wire war against Monahan--and neither side takes prisoners.