Dan Willard is filling in as temporary marshal while Micah is away. Some Texas cowhands are in North Fork looking for some fun and relaxation, but Dan keeps coming down hard on them. Dan's father tells Lucas that he feels Dan is trying to prove himself as a man to compensate from being dropped from West Point Academy because of his poor eyesight. The Texas cowhands have had enough of being pushed around when Marshal Dan posts an ordinance that all visitors must check their guns at the Marshal's office. Now, they're out to cause some real trouble for Dan.

After Lucas kills a mountain man in a barrom brawl, his father arrives in North Fork determined to take revenge on Lucas and Marshal Torrance, once he breaks his other two boys out of jail.

When a stranger arrives to marry the town spinster, two brothers who want her land try to discourage him with threats and a beating.

Mark and his friend become trapped in an old mine.