The novel explores the cowboy lives of Monte Walsh and Chet Rollins as they carouse, ride, and work at the Slash Y with Cal Brennan. As the West changes and their cowboy antics are challenged, the two must part ways to pursue new ways of life. Chet marries and goes on to become a successful merchant and then a politician, while Monte can only find solace in continuing the cowboys way of life until the very end.

Waiting out his last days, an aged cowman relives his life as a carefree ranch hand.

Deep in Cheyenne territory, a war hungry group of Indians meet and plan to attack a rival tribe. One young Cheyenne, Little Bear, refuses to fight. He has earned admiration for his courage and skill in hunting, but now, as a rite of passage into adulthood, he must spend two weeks alone in the wilds, eating only what nature provides. Is Little Bear tough enough to survive?

Monte Walsh and his friends are cowboys and bronco busters, plying their trade in the Wyoming Territory of 1892. The advancement of civilization has all but rendered Monte obsolete, but Monte doesn't want to change his ways. But with the corporate buy-ups of Wyoming land, Monte and his friends may be forced to move on.

Crossfire Trail: "A mysterious drifter is determined to keep a promise that he'll protect a man's widow and Wyoming ranch. But the widow doubts the man's motives. And an unscrupulous land grabber and his gunmen are sizing up the ranch for a takeover."--container Last stand at Saber River: "An ex-Confederate cavalryman turned homesteader thinks he'll resume a quiet life in Arizona with his wife and children. But one more battle looms when he finds...