Jeptha Tark drove his wife to an early grave and forced his son off his own land with his fists. Then his brutal hired guns terrorized innocent farming families of the Broken Rock territory as Tark robbed them of their ranch land and stripped them of their dignity. But one day, Pierce Hamlin arrived in Broken Rock, bringing with him a deadly vengeance. The stranger said that shooting was too good for Jeptha Tark. A man like that must be destroyed slowly and completely, just as Tark had once destroyed the woman who was Hamlin's mother. The ranchers wanted to help Pierce, but they weren't sure whether they were more terrified of Tark himself--or of Pierce Hamlin who was Jeptha Tark's only son and heir.