This historical novel takes place in the San Mateo Mountains of New Mexico near the Mogollon Rim which stretches in an arc to the painted desert of Arizona. The Rim separates the highlands to the north from the canyons and mountains to the south. The Apache lived along its spine, the last North American Indian Tribe to live wild and free. Their death struggle against the encroaching Americans set the rim on fire and is the backdrop for this story of lives caught up in the turmoil and destruction of the last gasp of Indian sovereignty.