- The sociopathic son of a neighbor, recently returned from away, stirs up serious trouble for the Barclays.
- A neighboring rancher's teenage son returns to Stockton after being away many years and is immediately obsessed with Audra. He tangles with Audra's defender, Heath, which leads to a feud between the families. The dispute further escalates with a shooting, and then the boy's background is divulged.—Anonymous
- Audra celebrates her eighteenth birthday with a party and dance. Among the guests are the Miles family, who live nearby. Wally and Jenny's only child, Evan, is back from college and Audra is delighted to see him. He has been away a long time. They dance and eventually go into the garden for some cooler air. Evan brings them each a glass of punch and Audra flirts with him. Suddenly he knocks the glass from her hand and kisses her roughly. Audra pushes him away and he grabs her dress, tearing it. Now terrified, Audra screams and he orders her to be quiet, putting his hand over her mouth. Her screams attract the party guests and her brothers pull Evan away from her. Wally is angry, insisting that Evan is not at fault because Audra led him on. Victoria takes a bewildered Audra back to the house and the party is over.
Later, Audra tells her mother that she feels what happened is her fault. She admits to wanting Evan to kiss her and making sure they would be alone. She doesn't understand his violent reaction. Neither does Victoria but she assures Audra of having done nothing wrong.
Wally overreacts and thinks the entire Barkley family owes them an apology. He even suggests that Audra is not as innocent as she seems. Jenny begs him to let it go, that Evan has just come home and she doesn't want any trouble with the Barkleys, who have been their close friends for many years. Later that morning, Audra rides over and apologizes, but obviously wants nothing more to do with Evan.
Evan returns to the house smelling of alkali. Wally asks how he got into it, but Evan's reply is vague. Then the Barkleys discover that the main stream that waters their cattle is alkaline. They don't connect it immediately with Evan, but when they try to cross the Miles land to reach another stream, they are held back at gunpoint. Evan has put up a barbed wire fence, which Wally goes along with. Despite Audra's apology, he is still very angry that his son was accused of attacking her.
Victoria explains to the family that Wally and Jenny were very good to her and Tom when they first came to the valley. Jenny even delivered Jarrod when there was no doctor available. Evan has always been very spoiled, with his parents giving him anything he wanted and sending him to various expensive schools. But this does not excuse his actions toward the Barkleys.
Jarrod is away on a mysterious trip, so Nick and Heath go to confront the Miles men and their hired hands. Evan shoots Heath in the arm but no one sees him. Wally is very remorseful, ordering that the fence be torn down and vowing to learn the identity of the shooter. After talking to the hired hands, he accuses Evan, who first denies and then admits it. Wally decides that Evan should go away for a while, until everything dies down. He suggests San Francisco, but Evan doesn't want to leave. He is determined to have Audra, one way or another.
That night, Evan spots Audra returning from town with medicine for Heath. He follows her into the barn and attacks her. This time there is no one to hear her scream. After beating her, he starts to choke her. Just then Victoria enters the barn, grabs Evan's shotgun, and kills him.
The next scene shows Wally and Jenny watching as Evan's body is taken away. Audra is shaken but calm. The sheriff says there will be an inquest. Wally accuses Victoria of murdering Evan in cold blood. He insists that Audra lured him into the barn. Jarrod arrives and says there may not be a need for a public inquest, as he has obtained information about Evan. He had always wondered why Wally kept sending his son away to school when all he wanted was for Evan to eventually run the ranch. Evan had a long history of violence and was arrested several times. Each time, the victim refused to testify and the charges were dropped. The dormitory at a college Evan attended mysteriously burned to the ground. Wally paid for a new one, as he paid Evan's victims not to testify. Wally denies this but Jenny, weeping profusely, tells the truth. They knew how sick Evan was, but they hoped he would eventually get better. They realize now how wrong they were and that they had really lost Evan a long time ago.
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