Teresa Barrett was repatriated after eleven years in Indian captivity by an apostate Mormon couple. Because the Indians believe Teresa is a witch (with good reason) and are afraid of her, she is hired to ride a Pony Express route in the belief that the Indians will not bother her. On her second ride for the Express Company, Teresa discovers that a trading post on her route has been burned and its owners killed under suspicious circumstances. Teresa does not believe the closest tribe, the Northern Paiutes, were responsible for the raid, but no one in Carson City will listen to her. Instead, a poorly-organized expedition under the leadership of a man who fancies himself as a military genius sets off on a punitive expedition against the Paiutes. A major Indian war is about to break out and Teresa Barrett finds that she is in the middle of it.
