At root, most good westerns are morality tales: with law in a nebulous state at best, would a man fly straight or turn crooked? Dawson's wildly plotted tale balances both sides of this coin in Joe Bonnyman, a violent-tempered pariah whom no one wants to cross, and his friend Clark Dunne, a fledgling rancher whom everyone wants to see succeed. Both are essentially good men, but whereas Bonnyman wants only acceptance back into his family and community, Dunne is intent on swelling his holdings by whatever means necessary. After a man is killed attempting to stop a robbery, the locals are quick to lay the blame on the innocent man, who mistakenly trusts his friend to help him hide out. In an exciting and well-paced yarn, Dawson plots the jagged, looping cutbacks of Dunne's secret machinations masterfully.
