In 1954, six men who spent their younger days as cowboys in the Southwest, now gather at the Matador Hotel in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico for weekly games of cribbage. One of the men brings his 10-year-old grandson with his red straw cowboy hat, cap gun and leather bullet belt. They play cards and tell stories as the boy learns life lessons and enters into a real-life drama of his own.

Stephen Bly (1944-2011) authored and co-authored with his wife, Janet Chester Bly, more than 100 books, both historical and contemporary fiction and nonfiction. He won the Christy Award in the category western novel for The Long Trail Home, from The Fortunes of the Black Hills Series. Other novels were Christy Award finalists: The Outlaw's Twin Sister, Picture Rock, and Last of the Texas Camp. His last novel, Stuart Brannon's Final Shot, finished with the help of his widow, Janet Chester Bly, and three sons--Russell, Michael, and Aaron--was a SELAH Award finalist. She just completed her first solo adult Indie novel, Wind in the Wires, Book 1, Trails of Reba Cahill.