Colonel Cobb's bad judgment and other disasters, (dust storms, prairie fires, and Indians) decimate his ambitions on their way to annex Sante Fe

The survivors, after surrendering to the Mexican army, must now march the Jornada del Muerto (The Dead Man's Walk) across 500 miles of desert to New Mexico. Their numbers dwindle from from disease, fatigue, thirst, and a murderous Apache named Gomez.