Sweetwater Crossing is a small town on the edge of Pineland civilization, a place where Wildies still rule the dense forests and outlaws are ready to pounce upon the unwary, a land where dogs will be dogs and pigs have to know how to use their tusks.Ex-soldier, hog-without-a-home, Jessun Redstone comes to Sweetwater Crossing a vagrant, yet finds himself drawn to the town and to the beautiful gilt, Abatha Willowbrook, who lives on the wrong side of the river. Troubles in love are the least of Jessun's worries when the dreaded outlaw wolf, Viper Blackfang, and his gang of mongrels and curs decide to take Sweetwater Crossing for their own. When even half-wildcat Sheriff Copperfur and Deputy Wheatmalt cannot stop the renegade wolf, Jessun Redstone finds that Brickhouse, the home he has built for Abatha Willowbrook with his own two forehooves, has become the last post of defense against the outlaws.