Trails depicts the turbulent decades from 1830-1870, a period of painful growth on the American Frontier, rife with tragedy and desperation, yet tantalizing in promise and new beginnings. Incidents of hope and courage mingle with dynamics so daunting that many strong men are reduced to pawns of fate and circumstance. The characters are diverse, and include Whit Brody, a pioneer visionary; the Chase brothers, heroes of the Civil War; Annalise Ollimore, a freed slave on a dangerous quest; Herkimer Grimes, a reluctant gunfighter; Bird/Three Doves, an Indian fighting for dignity in a white man's world; Reverend Jonah Brooks, a champion of the oppressed; Hank Rosbottom, a musician trying to cope with a life-altering tragedy; and the murderous Dooley brothers. These characters and scores of others, both fictional and actual, struggle through the impacts of historical events, leading to a bloody denouement on the streets of Abilene, Kansas, America's first "cow town."