Jesse Pruett is a young man whose sole goal in life is to avenge his father's death. Pruett knows someone shot and killed his father in Dodge City, but he knows nothing about the circumstances. He does not even know who is responsible. Pruett is a wet-behind-the-ears kid and knows nothing about gun fighting.
Pruett joins forces with a cold-blooded killer named Bill Strapp. Strapp agrees to accompany Pruett to Dodge and reveal who killed the kid's father.
When Matt Dillon meets Pruett, he does his best to convince the kid continuing to pursue his desired vengeance is unwise. Strapp continues to influence Jesse, but the young man does not know Strapp has his own agenda.
Edward Binns makes his first and last Gunsmoke appearance with his portrayal of Bill Strapp. Binns was already a television veteran when he played this role. He appeared in several television shows going back to the beginning of television technology. Around the same time he filled this role on Gunsmoke, he played a key role in Sidney Lumet's film 12 Angry Men. Binns would go on to appear in other Lumet films and several films that were nominated for Best Picture Academy Awards.
George Brenlin, who plays Jesse Pruett, also makes his only Gunsmoke appearance in this episode. Brenlin's acting career was sporadic. He appeared in several television westerns. One of his few recurring roles was as Duke, the owner of a diner where Malloy and Reed sometimes ate, in the series Adam-12.
This story is more in keeping with earlier westerns like The Lone Ranger than a more typically gritty episode of Gunsmoke. The opening scene is typical John Meston fare, but the episode never does much beyond that.
Brenlin's performance is a big weakness in this story. He plays the Jesse Pruett character as more of a wide-eyed, innocent Jimmy Olsen type than a potential killer. Binns is either miscast or misused as the Bill Strapp character. Other than shooting an unarmed loner on the prairie for no reason, the character spends most of his time lurking around the town and never appears to be especially menacing.
Pruett's motivation for avenging his father's death does not make much sense, either. The kid tells Matt his father was cruel and vicious to the point where his mother kicked the man out of the house. Pruett had not seen the man for ten years. It did not appear to be the kind of relationship that would elicit such furious extremes on the part of the son.
There is an odd, creative death near the end of the episode, however.