Forged in Fire

Part 1. A roguish French-Canadian trapper becomes partners with a fugitive Scotsman on the late 18th century American frontier.

Part 2: 1809-1830. Pasquinel prospects for gold, raises two sons by his Arapaho wife, then returns to St. Louis for a bittersweet reunion with his left-behind wife.

Part 3: 1845. A wagon train headed west from St. Louis includes a Mennonite outcast and his wife, an Army captain and a grizzled frontier guide.

Part 4: 1846-1860. Broken treaties imperil relations between the Native Americans, settlers and the US Army.

Part 5. A fanatical Army colonel orders a massacre of unarmed native Americans, precipitating a wave of revenge and recriminations.

Part 6. A trail boss recruits a motley crew of greenhorns and old hands to herd 3000 longhorns from Texas to Colorado.

Part 7: 1876. The town of Centennial, Colorado is born as a range war threatens to erupt between independent farmers and the English owners of the Venneford Ranch.

Part 8. The circus comes to Centennial. Levi Zendt returns east to visit his Mennonite family. Oliver Seccombe worries that an accountant will disapprove of his methods to keep the ranch solvent.

Part 9. The loss of most of the Venneford herd in a blizzard prompts Oliver Seccombe to relinquish his duties as general manager. A pair of con artists arouse the suspicion of the sheriff when they swindle the local minister.

Part 10. Jim Lloyd proposes to Charlotte. Sheriff Dumire remains bent on proving that the Wendells are murderers. An outlaw gang appears, ready to avenge the deaths of two members years earlier.

Part 11. Centennial attracts homesteaders in the 1920s, but their promised land is ravaged by drought and dust storms, and their future threatened by the onset of the Depression.

Part 12. History professor Lewis Vernor visits modern day Centennial, where he learns of the area's history - and uncovers a century-old secret.