Val Darrant was just four years old the snowy night his mother abandoned him. But instead of meeting a lonely death, he met Will Reillya gentleman, a gambler, and a worldly, self-taught scholar. For ten years they each were all the family the other had, traveling from dusty American boomtowns to the cities of Europeuntil the day Reillys luck ran out in a roar of gunfire. But it wasnt a gambling brawl or a pack of thieves that sealed Wills fate. It was a far more complex story that Val would soon uncover, one that touched upon Vals nearly forgotten childhood, the woman who was Will Reillys lost love, and the violent future of a growing country.From the Paperback edition.