Belle Starr, who came of age in the turbulent years following the Civil War, was a product of those reckless times when Southern heroes became outlaws and the Confederate cause became a losing battle.

Belle Starr was a woman who took control of her life at a time when most women (and men) were filled with bitterness and self-doubt, especially in the aftermath of the violent guerrilla war fought by irregulars along the border of Kansas and Missouri. The defeated heroes dispersed, but like so many of their Confederate compatriots, they did not stop fighting "the damn Yankee."

The good people of the South didn't surrender gracefully. It seemed like everyone was a refugee in those years...picking up stakes, hoping for a new start. The Union may have won the war, but shouts of "the South shall rise again" could be heard long after the final battle was fought. Belle, Jesse James, and Cole Younger were held in high regard for continuing to attack Union banks, trains, stagecoaches, and rustling government horses and livestock.

Friends and relatives proudly offered protection. Homes were laid open to them, meals were prepared for them, and newspaper accounts were printed about their heroic deeds. They were symbols of hope and justified revenge to the small farmers and townspeople of Texas and the Oklahoma territory. Belle was dubbed "the bandit queen" and "the female Jesse James." Quick as a fox, with her jet black hair, winning smile, and deadly aim, she never flinched in the face of danger.

Belle's lifelong passion was blue-eyed and brave Cole Younger. This lean and lanky outlaw and his undying love for Belle form the center of this novel.

Bell Starr and Cole Younger - wild and young - were the epitome of this romantic age; they rode the crest of the era, its roots in rebellion., its branches in history, its blossoms in legend.