Duncan Bailey returns from the Civil War to El Paso, only to find that his entire family has been massacred in an Apache raid. When he learns that the killer of his family is an Apache he grew up with, he is filled with rage.

Growing up with the Apache, Duncan knows the desert and the mountains, and he is as good as an Apache on the hunt. Desert Fox, the Apache who killed his family, has held a lifelong enmity and hatred against Duncan.

With vengeance burning in his heart, Duncan hunts his old enemy into the rugged Mule Mountains. What follows is a whirlwind adventure that takes him to the Rocking N Ranch and to the presence of Camila Nichols, the strong-willed daughter of a powerful Tucson rancher.

Facing off against John Hudson and his army of hired guns, Duncan must fight one last battle. But can he finally put his loss behind him and build the future he never thought he'd have?

Set against the backdrop of the Old West, THE SOLDIER is the sixteenth book in the Bailey Clan Westerns by Terence Newnes.