In this story, Colonel Alexander Doniphan, an inexperienced battle commander, has created a loyal, terrifying fighting force out of the thousand strong 1st Missouri Volunteers to fight against the Mexicans in New Mexico. When Santa Fe is taken, Doniphan, himself a treaty-maker, finds himself trying to create peace between the Navajos and the native New Mexicans, which means maneuvering around 200 years of enmity and war between the two camps. While the war rages on bringing social upheaval and cultural change, a story of love emerges. Two enlisted family members, Kirby and Nate Hatcher have to discover what it really means to love when Inez Torren, an eighteen-year-old noblewoman, enters their lives.