Because Judge Garth has been appointed Governor of the Wyoming Territory, he has asked his Civil War friend Morgan Starr to take over running Shiloh in his place. Morgan Starr is a tough man with little thought for the feelings of others but he gets the job done and pays his help well but drives them hard. Having lost his wife and daughter he keeps his feelings internal and doesn't reach out to others. The ranch hands and residents of Medicine Bow believe that The Virginian should have received the job and are surprised he is staying at Shiloh. Starr has controversial new ideas on how to operate the ranch with plans that disrupt the normal seasonal plans of the other ranchers when he pulls Shiloh out of the roundup. When the government reports a locust plague coming, it pits him against the neighbors and the proposed plan to save the pasture land and cattle. The Virginian backs Starr to fight the locust but afterwards is another story.
—Anonymous