The U. S. Calvary finds a twelve-year-old white boy who has been living among the Cheyenne people and adopted their way of living. They take the boy to Fort Dodge where Mary Cullen tells Colonel Honeyman the boy is her son who was taken captive by Cheyenne some ten years earlier when he was two years old.
The boy calls himself something that sounds like "Vee-ho-kan," which the Fort Dodge commander says is Cheyenne for "white boy," but Mrs. Cullen says his name is Dennis. The mother confesses to Matt Dillon the boy is not her son, but he is the same age, and she wants to take custody of him and treat him as her son. The Marshal agrees it would be in the boy's best interest and concedes to Mrs. Cullen's wishes.
In Dodge City, Mrs. Cullen introduces the boy into her world and makes attempts to get him to assimilate into her culture. The boy naturally resists, and many of the people of the town treat him badly because he continues to exhibit the ways of the Cheyenne people he has always known.
Meanwhile, some Cheyenne have escaped Fort Dodge, and Little Wolf and a large group of Cheyenne warriors have escaped the Darlington Agency. They plan to rendezvous somewhere within a long ride from Dodge City. The Cheyenne warriors are threatening to revolt against what amounts to captivity away from their desired homeland.
Colonel Honeyman thinks the boy may know the location of the meeting place, but the boy denies such knowledge.
When the opportunity presents itself, the boy steals a pony, the Sharps rifle Mrs. Cullen owns, and runs away. Matt and Chester Goode pursue the boy. They will discover a surprise when they finally catch up with the boy.
The talented Peter J. Voltrian returns for his second and final Gunsmoke appearance in this story as the boy. Voltrian was cast in several high-profile roles as a child and as he grew into his teen years. By the time he grew out of his teen years, his acting career ended. It is not clear whether he quit, or he stopped receiving offers. Voltrian had previously appeared in the early Season 1 episode "Night Incident."
Marian Seldes plays Mary Cullen in this episode, which is her only Gunsmoke role. Seldes was an immensely talent actress. She was a Tony award winner and was given a Tony lifetime achievement award in 2010. She also taught acting. The list of actors she taught is impressive.
This story provides a fascinating look into the treatment of Native Americans by white settlers in the post-Civil War United States, but it also provides a glimpse into social norms of the time the episode was produced. One of the accomplishments of the Gunsmoke producers was to move away from the stereotypes of American Indians as uncivilized savages that were often found in earlier westerns. The Gunsmoke writers generally treated American Indians as people to be respected. Many times, themes of bigotry and discrimination were explored using the relationship between white people who had either immigrated from Europe or were descendants of European immigrants and the Native American Indians as a parallel to more contemporary issues of bigotry toward other races, especially African Americans.
The arrogance of many of the characters in this story is shocking. Most of the white people in the story cannot understand the boy's resistance to being assimilated into their culture. Even Doc Adams makes a comment about the boy needing to "act civilized." (It should be noted that later Doc does state that he thinks Little Wolf and the Cheyenne people have a right to return to the area they consider their homeland.)
There is also a profoundly sad component to this story, as Matt thinks Little Wolf and the people he leads are destined to fail in their quest. He tries to convince the boy there is no future with the Cheyenne. If disease doesn't kill them, the Army probably will as long as the Cheyenne continue to resist what the U. S. government wants.
It is difficult not to root for the boy and the Cheyenne, despite the bleak picture of the future Marshal Dillon paints for them.
The outstanding cast and the throught-provoking story (arguably the best screenplay provided by the team of David Victor and Herbert Little, Jr.) make this episode well worth viewing.
(Perhaps the best line in this episode is uttered by Kitty Russell. When Miss Kitty is in Mary Cullen's shop buying a hat, Mary remarks about the number of hats Kitty has purchased recently. Kitty responds, "Hats are my one VIRTUOUS weakness.")
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