Broderick Crawford and John Derek are re-teamed for a third time following All the King's Men (1949) and Scandal Sheet (1952) - two dark, modern dramas - under the direction of Alfred Werker (He Walked by Night, Three Hours to Kill) for an under-the-radar western photographed by noir-DP Burnett Guffey (In a Lonely Place, Human Desire). Crawford plays Frazier, the dissipated sheriff of a town he once ruled proudly. Derek plays Jed, the dominated step-son of Sampson Drune (Charles Bickford), who forms a posse to hunt down a pair of brothers that stole from him. Many of the townsfolk feel the brothers were justly entitled to the money, but Drune is out for revenge. The twists and turns in this story unfold in flashback.