After five years of virtual banishment because he sold out his small outfit to
the Middle Arizona Cattle Company, giving it a foothold on the Mesa Grande
range, violent-tempered Joe Bonnyman is summoned back to Lodgepole by his father
when it appears that a cattle war between the syndicate and the various rangers
is imminent.
During his short stay in town, Joe has an unpleasant meeting with Ed Merrill,
the brother of a girl Joe had once courted. Warned by Merrill to stay away from
his sister, Joe whips the man in a fist fight. Later that same night Ed Merrill
decides to ride out of Lodgepole to his ranch, rather than face humiliation the
next day over the fight. On his way to the stable to get his horse, he sees a
light in the Acme Land Company's office and realizes that someone is opening the
safe. While he is deliberating what to do, the hold-up man comes out, sees him,
and brings down his gun on Ed's head with a vicious blow. From a piece of
evidence found at the scen...