Tucker’s next mission with his men is to escort a wagon train to a river west where they are to turn them over to a California Union company. They plan to head back into Texas after that. Plans begin to come unraveled when they find the widow hiding in a wagon, defying her brother-in-law’s edict that she stay at the fort. He claims a desire to protect her as she’s family, not admitting to himself what his real reasons are for the order.