Moon of Bitter Cold begins in 1866 when the Civil War has ended, but the war in the West, with its bloody collision of cultures, is increasing in tension and danger. As the U.S. army builds ever more forts on the Great Plains and into the Wyoming Territory, the Plains Indians raid, attack, and skirmish, but with little effect.

Then Red Cloud, a Lakota Sioux war leader, assembles more than 3,000 warriors, uniting the Sioux with the Cheyenne, Arapho, and Crow, in order to make war on the white man. This is the only war that the Western Indians ever win against the encroaching settlers.

Chiaventone brings these historical figures to life. Thorough and impartial, Moon of Bitter Cold is a major narrative about a critical period and its pivotal figures on a frontier that won't know peace for decades.