John Benton was one of the toughest men ever to wear a Texas Ranger badge. But eight years ago, in August 1871, he hung up his guns for good. Or so he hoped. Then young Robby Coles challenged him to a fight over some imagined slight to the boy's sixteen-year old girlfriend. At first Benton tried to laugh off the affair. Whey, the boy was little more than a child. But rumours and gossip spread like wildfire through their dusty frontier town and soon enough the entire community seemed to be goading both men towards a fatal confrontation neither one truly wanted. Benton doesn't want to kill again. Robby is secretly terrified of facing the legendary gunfighter. Yet, with both men's honour on the line, is there any way to avoid a duel to the death?