Gerald Gray is released from prison after serving five years for armed robbery. He returns to the small farming community of Sycamore, where his well-meaning daughter Eunice and her husband Jess hope to help him begin life anew. However, Gray's only thoughts are of getting revenge against Dan Mathews for his arrest and conviction. He meets his former partner Stacy Adams and convinces Adams to help with a plot involving a gunfight with two self-righteous local farmers (Crane and Britton) who had threatened to remove Gray from their community at gunpoint if need be. Gray lures the two farmers into a gun battle and has Eunice call the Highway Patrol, correctly figuring that Dan will take the call himself. When Dan and Officer Johnson arrive at the Gables' farm, they quickly realize the true nature of the situation and respond accordingly.
—Sam Spear