Plot

When Newly performs emergency surgery on a patient in the back country and he dies, the ignorant families think it's murder and want to hang him.

Patrolling the back country of Kansas on assignment for Marshal Dillon, Newly O'Brien comes to a small community /of rednecks and finds that a person there needs an emergency operation. Newly, who has been trained by Doc Adams to eventually pursue a career in medicine, undertakes the surgery - but the patient dies and the townsfolk hold Newly responsible. When word of Newly's disappearance reaches Dodge City, Doc and Festus rush off to find him. They get to the scene of hanging in time, but Doc is accidentally shot by one of Newly's guards and Newly must test his surgical skills once again.—Peter Harris

Newly substitutes for Doc Adams and makes medical rounds in the hill country. He performs a tracheotomy on an old man, who dies in spite of Newly's efforts. The old man's friends and relatives threaten to hang Newly for murder, citing a biblical injunction against cutting into human flesh. Doc arrives and is badly wounded in a gun fight, so Newly must operate to remove the bullet. The hill people prevent Newly from operating. Spoiler alert! Doc persuades the people to let Newly operate to save his life. After the bullet is successfully removed, the hill people relent and grudgingly release Newly without admitting that there might be some efficacy in surgery.