Matt and Chester are riding along when they see smoke in the distance and assume it is a grass fire. However the smoke is very black and as they get nearer they discover a ranch house burned to the ground and it doesn’t look like an accident. The ranch belonged to Mr Clayburn and his wife who had moved here from Indiana and whose bodies Matt and Chester discovered.

Before the story begins William Conrad announces that this is the night that Gunsmoke goes on TV for the first time with a special appearance from John Wayne.