Joe Bascome is a hired killer, and the Douglas brothers have hired him to kill Matt Dillon, although we never learn why. Bascome stops in a small town about three hours from Dodge City to get a bath and shave, get his clothes cleaned, and make the arrangements with the Douglas brothers.
Bascome encounters three cowboys who apparently have nothing better to do than to bully the Asian man and his daughter that run the local laundry. Gunplay erupts, and Bascome is shot and badly injured.
The daughter, Ching Lee, mistakes Bascome's motivation for his actions. She thinks he was defending her and her father against the bullies. In reality, Bascome was angered by having his clean clothes splatted with mud when one of the bullies pushes the father into the mud. Ching Lee undertakes the job of nursing Bascome back to health.
As Bascome recuperates over the next weeks, Bascome and Ching Lee gradually fall in love, although Bascome is reluctant to admit it for a while.
This is essentially a love story that has very little to do with anything normally related to Gunsmoke. Matt Dillon is a central character here, but only because he is the reason Bascome is where he is. We only see James Arness briefly near the end of the episode. Ching Lee summons Doc Adams from Dodge to care for Bascome, which introduces Milburn Stone into the story. There are a couple of scenes inside the Long Branch where we see Miss Kitty and some of the other Dodge regulars briefly.
It is a decent enough love story, it moves along at a good pace, and it is very well acted. Darren McGavin is excellent as Bascome. Although he is a gunslinger, he does a good job at evoking sympathy from the audience. I believe he only appeared in two episodes of Gunsmoke--this one, and The Hostage late in Season 11. He was excellent in both appearances. France Nuyen also delivers a top-notch performance as Ching Lee.
I rate this episode lower than others because of the lack of anything much related to Gunsmoke. This story could have been set anywhere. There is nothing uniquely Gunsmoke about it.
