An epic account of a boy born into a struggle for survival on the harsh and unforgiving American frontier from the greatest Western writer of the century.
On the eve of the Civil War, Kirby Jensen is the youngest of three children living on a hardscrabble ranch in Southwestern Missouri. But in 1861, shots are fired in Charleston harbor, and Kirby's father and brother go to war. Smoke Jensen: The Beginning follows the Jensen clan...

Set in the early days of the Jensen family saga, this gun-blazing adventure follows Smoke and Sally from their first year of marriage to the founding of the legendary Sugarloaf Ranch.

"Building a ranch takes heart and grit. Smoke and Sally Jensen are more than capable of meeting the challenges of shaping the land, raising the livestock, and establishing their brand. But Smoke wasn't always an entrepreneur. He's more apt to settle accounts with a fast draw than a checkbook. And when he learns his old friend Preacher has been ambushed by outlaws, he wastes no time saddling up and hitting the vengeance trail with his fellow mountain...