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The immigrant cooper named constable of the mission and sheriff when the territory created a county is asked by the young rancher to investigate suspicions about his brother-in-law. Sheriff Simms rides to Upton and finds a murdered girl in her bed and a husband escaped in Grandma’s buggy. Tracking high into the mountains to capture him in Bonanza Flat, the sheriff decides on the spot not to kill the son of a bitch. Founding Sheriff sets in motion years of struggle in pursuit of a long and broken path to create a tradition of justice where none existed before in Summit County, Utah Territory. Capture comes swift. Conviction takes longer. Execution drags on for years. The murderer pursues every effort to avoid his fate. Life in a growing frontier town that starts with six people and no buildings alternately demands frontier justice or unfolds its apparent willingness to assist the murder’s determined delays. Troubles mostly created by the settlers and blamed on the Indians cause fear and the hint of war. Casting doubt on the sheriff when he calms fears of the Indians, vigilantes create outrages to increase their power.When they take justice in their own hands it proves murderous. The railroad brings a hell-on-wheels town run by a man whose only concern is to build the tunnel.The town leaves behind a lynching before it moves on. The founding sheriff’s promise to the murdered girl’s mother is threatened to the end.