Peter Decker returns from the American Civil War with a grudge against his neighbor, an army brigade troop leader. The showdown takes place according to the rules of the Wild West, where guns settled all conflicts but those rules are slowly being replace by civilization, and the rule of law.

A hard-boiled private eye receives a call from a small-town policeman who suspects an auto accident which involves the daughter of a prominent citizen is connected with the finding of the body of a young girl in the river.