This is one of those episodes where Matt Dillon is away from Dodge City acting as a detective in his capacity as U.S. Marshal. The U.S. Army has asked Matt to go to a place called Ridge Town to investigate an incident that occurred 12 years earlier when a man named Felix Smith supposedly shot and killed an army major finance officer named Franklin and permanently wounded Sheriff John Scanlon of the town. Smith was tried and convicted, but he died recently. As he was dying he insisted he was not responsible for the shootings, which led to Marshal Dillon's investigation.
In Ridge Town, the Marshal encounters a citizenry that appears to be quite uninterested in discussing any of the events surrounding the shooting and extremely resistant to Dillon's efforts to reveal the facts. Matt has trouble understanding why no one wants to tell the truth about what happened on the night in question. The more Dillon uncovers, the more the mystery grows and the more anxious the people of the town become.
The situation escalates to the point where some of the townspeople frame Matt for assaulting a woman, beat him, and attempt to run him out of town.
This story is a great example of a situation where fear of the truth drives people to extremes they would likely never consider under less volatile circumstances.
Another great cast is featured in this episode. James Gregory plays the former sheriff, who is now confined to a wheelchair as a result of the shooting. Jeremy Slate makes another appearance on Gunsmoke as the former sheriff's son, Tom, who now serves as sheriff.
Jack Weston stands out as the mentally challenged character Wesley. Wesley vocalizes and portrays the fears of the townspeople in a very literal way.
Other familiar faces include Richard X. Slattery, Sandy Kenyon, Lew Brown, Ian Wolfe, and others.
This is the last of four episodes Calvin Clements wrote in Season 10. Clements would eventually write 43 episodes in the entire series. Joseph Sargent handles the director duties here. Sargent directed seven other episodes of Gunsmoke and enjoyed a long career directing television shows and television movies throughout the 1960s well into the 2000s.