SPUR AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR Bill Varney is twenty-three years old and resents the way he has been treated by his father, ruthless ranch owner Old Mike Varney; he is just a hired hand on the Pitchfork Ranch, sleeping in the bunkhouse with the other hands. If Old Mike had ever cared about anybody, it's Bill's twin sister, Vida. She lives in the ranch house with her father and cares deeply about the old man. Bill's girl friend, Marian Tracey, who operates a millinery shop in the nearby town of Broken Nose, is so distracted by the constant care demanded by her ailing mother that she cannot make a commitment to Bill. But it does seem that Marian might make a commitment to rich storekeeper Phil Nider, a man twice her age. Then a gun­man named Ace Kehoe comes to Broken Nose and declares that he intends to have a showdown with Old Mike. Although Old Mike is impaired by arthritis, the old man won't back down to anyone, including some upstart gunfighter. Vida pleads with Bill to intervene and take on Ace Kehoe himself. Bill is convinced that even if he does take Old Mike's place in a showdown with Ace Kehoe, and lives through it, it won't earn him anything but more of Old Mike's stubborn con­tempt. In every way Bill stands to lose everything, his life as well as any chance for happiness.