Trama

Passing through the town of Abbottsville on their way to a wedding, Victoria and Audra stop to see Victoria's brother-in-law. They are not allowed to see him and are told he is judged insane and sees no visitors - a suspicious Victoria investigates.—Anonymous

Victoria and Audra are on their way to San Francisco for a wedding. They intend to stop in Abbottsville on the way, to see Tom Barkley's brother, Jim. He owns a large ranch just outside of town. But the stage is stopped by a rider who warns them that the bridge up ahead has been washed away, barring the way into Abbottsville. Victoria asks the driver if he can take a detour and he says no, that regulations require him to turn around and return to the town they just left. Frustrated, Victoria decides that she and Audra will rent a buggy there and take the detour themselves. They won't arrive in Abbottsville until late, but they will arrive. When the stage leaves, the rider calls to someone hidden in the bushes that "it didn't work." That person turns out to be Mike Newcomb, the elderly foreman of Jim Barkley's ranch.

When Victoria and Audra finally reach Abbottsville, they are met by Eric Abbott, a smooth-talking lawyer and son of the town's founder. He explains that Jim is not there to meet them because he has gone insane. It happened several month earlier, just after he and Eric returned from a business trip to Arizona. The new doctor in town, Dr. Morley, has ordered Jim confined to his room. Eric has taken rooms in the hotel for the Barkley women, explaining that Jim is too dangerous to have visitors.

Victoria insists on staying at the ranch and Eric reluctantly drives them out. Audra is especially upset because she was very close to her Uncle Jim. She visited him the summer after his wife died and they spent a lot of time together. Victoria is determined to see Jim, no matter how dangerous he is.

When Victoria and Audra arrive at the ranch, Dr. Morley is just coming out of Jim's room, which is located at the top of the stairs. He explains that he has given Jim an injection and forbids Victoria from entering the room. When Victoria insists, he says that on his visit the next day, it might be possible for her to see Jim. He leaves and Grace Newcomb, the housekeeper and wife of the foreman Mike, asks Eric to stay for dinner. A wild thumping and screaming is heard from Jim's room. He is obviously dangerous, just as everyone says, but Victoria still wants to see him.

She learns that Eric is handling Jim's business affairs after obtaining a power of attorney. The obvious question is why Jim's relatives in Stockton were not notified of his condition. Eric explains that he put if off, hoping Jim would improve, but it is obvious now that he will not.

The next stage to San Francisco leaves in the morning, and the Barkleys plan to be on it. But that night, unable to sleep, Victoria wanders around the ranch. The corral is weedy and neglected, and Jim's prize palomino horses are gone. She runs into Mike, who reluctantly explains what happened. Shortly after his return from Arizona, Jim suddenly attacked Mike with a baling hook and nearly killed him. He was out of control and Dr. Morley declared him insane. Shortly after that the horses were sold, supposedly by Jim's order, but Victoria finds that hard to believe. She asks Mike why the ranch is no longer being worked and he says it is because the hired hands left. They were afraid Jim would get loose and attack them. Mike couldn't hire new hands because the ranch developed a reputation and no one wanted to work there. He and Grace stayed on out of loyalty, as they had been with Jim for many years.

Meanwhile, after returning to town, Eric converses with his father. Ben is very proud of "his town" and is determined to borrow money to keep the silver mine open. But there isn't a bank anywhere that will loan him money. Ben tries to soothe the old man by reminding him that all is well now and he doesn't want his father to go around begging for money. But it is obvious that Ben is afraid or troubled by something.

For Victoria, the pieces just don't add up. Jim loved his horses and it is difficult to believe that he would sell them. The next morning, she comes to a decision. Audra will take the stage to San Francisco, attend the wedding, and return to Abbottsville. She will only be away forty-eight hours, which will give Victoria time to find out what's going on with Jim. After learning that Dr. Morley has been called to another town and will not return for hours, possibly overnight, Victoria drives into town to see Jim's former doctor, Amos Pearce.

He admits that not much is known about young Dr. Morley, who arrived in town shortly after Jim became ill. Since he has not kept up with the latest medical advances, it made sense to him that Morley would be called to attend Jim instead of himself. But he admits that Victoria's suspicions may have merit. Dr. Pearce also finds it strange that Dr. Morley doesn't encourage people to come to him and therefore doesn't earn much. There is a rumor that he has a private income and doesn't care if he has any patients or not. Dr. Pearce agrees to examine Jim later that day.

Victoria next confronts Eric, demanding to know why the horses were sold, why Eric has taken over Jim's affairs, and why she cannot see him. Eric turns nasty, accusing Victoria of not trusting him. He insists that Jim told him to sell the horses and didn't even remember them after they were gone. By this time Victoria has had enough. She warns Eric that Dr. Pearce is coming to examine Jim later that day, whether Dr. Morley is back or not.

Ben now tells Eric that they have to stop, they've gone far enough, but Eric reminds him that what they are doing is necessary to keep the town going and the mine open. Two hundred jobs will be lost if if closes and the town will likely become a "ghost town."

When Dr. Pearce doesn't turn up at the ranch, Victoria drives into town. She learns that the doctor's body was just discovered at the bottom of his cellar stairs. He apparently lost his balance and fell.

That night, Victoria hears Jim's door closing and goes into his room. It is dark and a man grabs her from behind. She recognizes a signet ring on the man's hand, with a distinctive blue stone. Just then she is struck over the head with a candlestick and loses consciousness. The man who struck her is Eric Abbott. The room is empty and the bed not slept in.

Next morning, Victoria awakens in her own room with a splitting headache. Eric is sitting by her bed and tells her that Jim ran away after striking her. The Newcombs found her on the floor of his room. The sheriff and a posse are searching for him. Eric forces her to drink some medicine that Dr. Morley gave Grace for her headaches, but Victoria recognizes the signet ring. She thrusts the glass away and accuses Eric of being the one who attacked her. She tries to get up, but he knocks her out again and locks the bedroom door.

The Newcombs and Ben are downstairs. The sheriff arrives with a pair of trousers and boots. They were found on the riverbank. Grace identifies them as Jim's. The sheriff surmises that Jim tried to swim across the river and was likely drowned, given the strong current at this time of year. The body will probably never be found, but the sheriff promises to have his men search both sides of the shore. He asks how Victoria is and Eric tells him she is still unconscious. By the time Dr. Morley returns, it might well be too late.

After he leaves, Eric gives Grace the key and tells her to sit with Victoria and make sure she doesn't escape. She reluctantly obeys, but Victoria is waiting for her. After overpowering Grace, she locks her in the bedroom and starts downstairs. But Grace's screaming attracts the others, forcing Victoria to hide in Jim's room. When she tries to leave through the front door, Mike shows up and grabs her. Victoria takes his gun while the others appear, having broken down the door to rescue Grace. She holds them at bay, demanding to know the truth.

The truth is that Jim died when he went to Arizona with Eric, six months ago. He was thrown from his horse and broke his neck. Since they were four days from the nearest town, Eric buried him where he fell. By keeping quiet about what happened, Eric sold off some of Jim's assets to keep the mine open. He insists that he did it for his father, not wanting him to suffer because the town he loved and founded was going under. Realizing that some story must be concocted to explain Jim's absence, Eric spread the word that he was insane and confined to his room. The thumping and screaming heard earlier were made by Mike, in an effort to scare Victoria away. Ben, the Newcombs, and Dr. Morley were all in on the scheme.

By now the medicine Victoria swallowed is beginning to take effect and Eric gets the gun away from her. Ben assures her that he will repay every penny once the price of silver goes up Victoria reveals that it was Eric who murdered Dr. Pearce. Ben is shocked, but Eric says he had to do it to keep him away from the ranch.

Suddenly Ben has had enough and declares that he is going to turn Eric in. Victoria smashes a glass globe over Eric's head, incapacitating him. She runs outside, jumps in Ben's buggy, and heads toward town and the sheriff.

The next scene shows Victoria back home. Jarrod comes in from a dance and reveals that Audra seems to have a new boyfriend. This pleases Victoria, as Audra had taken the news of Jim's death harder than anyone. Victoria has written to the District Attorney and persuaded him to drop the charges against Ben. He was not a killer like his son, and she felt that Eric's conviction for the murder of Dr. Pearce was punishment enough. She also asks him to travel to Abbottsville and find out how much it will cost to keep the mine running for six months. By then, the price of silver should rise. Victoria explains that she wants to try and save Abbottsville, for Ben's sake, since he prevented Eric from killing her. Jarrod promises to start for Abbottsville the next morning.