Viktor Andrusha spent the past decade muscling his way from bare-knuckle street brawler to heavyweight boxing champion. A brutal battle two years earlier left him with impaired vision and his opponent dead. At the urging of his manager, Viktor settles for bouts in smaller venues farther west until he can land the opportunity for one last big match to restore honor to the family name.
Thwarted from attending medical college, nurse Odette Hildebrand leaves her father’s clinic to help her relatives relocate to Montana Territory. In the woods near Sweetwater Springs, she is drawn by the sound of sweet music and meets a shy man, Viktor Andrusha, with a battered face. They make a pact: he’ll agree to receive her treatments while she studies the effects of different herbs, hoping to create a marketable remedy. Her skill heals his wounded exterior, but can she live with the fact he’ll receive more, or worse, injuries in the upcoming exhibition fight?