Gil kills a job-seeker when the trail boss's besieged by starving wannabe drovers from a wide expanse. When Gil refuses a hire-on kickback from Grant, the desperate father of three lashes out at the only flush employer in town. Gil's punches knock Grant against a cow-pen post, killing him instantly. Gil's got his new drive together, but must wait for a judge to arrive for an inquest. His drought-struck backers are restive to push their cattle out of parched Texas, and the victim's young widow Dolly latches onto guilt-ridden widower Gil as a solution to her plight.
—David Stevens