Ray Jarvis is trying to raise two young children by himself on a farm outside Dodge City, and he has fallen on hard times financially. Ezra Thorpe is Ray's brother-in-law. Ezra works at the bank in Dodge. When Ray approaches Ezra about a small loan to help with the farm expenses, Ezra refuses. The two argue, and Ray leaves angry and dejected.
Ezra possesses an obdurate, rigid personality addicted to routine. He considers Ray an unfit father. By Ezra's standards, Ray's children, Annie and Mike, are unkempt and lack the necessary routine in their daily lives. Ezra's traits also affect his marriage to his wife Louise. Louise is frustrated by Ezra's lack of flexibility in everything he does.
Annie and Mike Jarvis, Ray's children, take their dog to visit their Uncle Ezra at the bank. The dog causes a commotion, and Mike sees an envelope containing a large amount of money. Mike grabs the envelope, and the kids and the dog go back to the farm.
Ezra quickly discovers the envelope is missing, and subsequently decides Ray must have stolen it after being refused the loan. When a makeshift posse led by Festus Haggen stops at Ray's house, the dog is seen carrying the envelope full of money in its mouth. Festus is forced to arrest Ray for theft.
The kids try to tell anyone that will listen that THEY stole the money, but everyone assumes they are just trying to prevent Ray from being punished. When the children confess to Ray, he believes them, He then decides it would be in the best interest of the children if he confessed to the crime. He reasons the situation provides an opportunity for Annie and Mike to have a better home and life than he can currently provide.
While Ray is in jail, Annie and Mike go to their aunt and uncle's house to live. Ezra's intolerance for any kind of change from routine does not sit well with the kids, and it allows Louise to see even more clearly how inflexible Ezra is. (The scene where Ezra proudly announces they are having liver and eggplant for dinner is great. Liver AND eggplant? I don't mind either, but not together.)
The kids choose to run away, which actually sets in motion a series of events that will lead to an interesting conclusion to the whole situation.
This is another stellar Gunsmoke casting job. Charles Aidman plays Ray Jarvis. Aidman is one of those actors anyone who has watched classic television is going to recognize, as he appeared in numerous television shows throughout his long career. His style is perfect for the Ray Jarvis character.
Anyone that has ever watched a television show should recognize William Schallert, who was one of the most versatile, prolific character actors to ever grace the screen. He is perfect in this story as the stubborn, stick-in-the-mud Ezra Thorpe.
Virginia Vincent plays Ezra's longsuffering wife Louise in her single Gunsmoke appearance. Viewers of the 1967-1970 Dragnet reboot may recognize Vincent in several roles in that series. She also played a recurring character on the late 1970s series Eight Is Enough.
Pamelyn Ferdin appeared as a child and teen in many television shows of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. Here she plays Ray's oldest child, Annie. Ferdin has the distinction of being the first actor to kill a Clint Eastwood character in a film (1971's The Beguiled).
Ferdin's counterpart as the other Jarvis child, Mike, is Eric Shea. Shea's acting career started when he was only six years old and was limited to his childhood and teen years. One of his last acting jobs was a recurring role as the character Little Garth in the series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman in the late 1970s.
This story is surprisingly good and refreshingly unique. It stands out during a season where many of the episodes have relied on familiar and even overused plot elements. It is also noteworthy as an episode that contains no gunplay and no serious violence of any kind with a surprising amount of humor.
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