Reluctant hero, Honore Greenwood, has a knack for embroiling himself in the most violent conflicts of the Southern Plains. Known as Plenty Man to the Comanches, Honore serves as ransom negotiator for captives among the Indians. As if his life wasn't in danger enough, Honore has offered his services to the New Mexico Volunteers in the Civil War. But as Honore's luck would have it, he's in the same unit as Luther Sheffield, a man whose grudge against Greenwood knows no boundaries, even though they are fighting on the same side.

Leaving behind his beautiful Arapaho bride, Honore rides out, joining his legendary friend, Kit Carson, as a scout. But he is swept into more action than he bargained for--heavy combat in the battles of Val Verde Ford and Glorieta Pass plus Indian attacks--all the while watching over his shoulder for the ruthless Luther Sheffield. Worried that he may soon be ordered to take up arms against his own adoptive tribe, the Comanches, Honore resigns as Kit's scout to return to his tribe.

But Honore's halcyon days among the Indians cannot last forever, and he knows that eventually his old cavalry unit will come to attack his village. Torn between a nation on the rise and his own adoptive culture, Plenty Man is forced to lead the fight for Comanche freedom against his old friend, the great Kit Carson, in a battle at a remote place in the Texas Panhandle called Adobe Walls. But in the end, it becomes difficult to tell enemy from ally, and Plenty Man knows his loyalty to the Indians may cost him everything - his beautiful wife, his freedom to return to white civilization, his friendship with Kit, and even his very life.