After the frigid winter, the spring rains have failed to fall on the Wyoming prairie. Soaring temperatures, dying grass, and drying creeks have cattlemen watching the skies for rain, and Woody Clayton looking east, past the Big Sandy River. Clayton, believing himself the omnipotent ruler of the range, recognizes no boundaries or property lines. Where Clayton wants to go, he goes, and he intends to drift his cattle east to graze in order to save his own range - right through Ian Pelletier's land. Ian warns him not to try.
Ian and his crew prepare to meet Clayton's threat. Battle lines are drawn at the fence that blocks Clayton from the Pelletier property. In Fort Collins, Clint Rush learns from an old associate that Clayton is hiring guns to drive Ian out. He sends word up to the Poudre Canyon of Ian's deadly dilemma, and heads for South Pass to back him.
Jean's and Andre's reunion with their long-lost brothers at the Poudre Canyon ranch is interrupted by the message from Clint. Within minutes, the Pelletier men are heading for South Pass, into a range war that will forever change the face of Sweetwater County, and send a shockwave through the Pelletier family.