Woodley and Cantwell get into a fight over splitting up the money they earned from trapping and gambling. Matt breaks it up and they go their separate ways for the night. As Cantwell is walking down an alley, Claude and Ab Benteen, the sons of a local rancher, rob and kill him. Woodley is accused, tried, and sentenced to hang in a month. During this time, Ab's conscience is bothering him and drives him to drink heavily. In a drunken stupor he draws on a cowboy in the Long Branch and is shot. He makes a death confession to Matt that he and his brother really killed Cantwell. With Woodley scheduled to hang the very next day, Matt tries to telegraph the sheriff in Hays City but the telegraph lines are down due to a raging storm. He then has to go to his old friends, Adam and Clara Benteen, to explain what happened to Ab and take Claude into custody. Fighting time to get to Hays City to stop the hanging Matt is faced with a rifle-bearing Adam, trying to set his son