A hermit named Lijah that prefers living alone high in the mountains discovers a grisly scene where a husband, wife, and young man have been murdered. He sees the cellar doors of the house move and finds a young girl standing inside. The girl's uncle Hale Parker happens to arrive while Lijah is burying the dead family members. Hale assumes the mountain man is the perpetrator and runs for a rifle leaning against the barn. Lijah sees Hale going for the gun and knocks him out with a shovel. Lijah correctly surmises he will be blamed for the killings. He takes the little girl named Rachel into his care and flees.
Hale subsequently rides into Dodge City and embellishes the events at his cousin's house. Parker, who is given to drink, tells anyone that will listen he and Lijah engaged in an extended fight after the hermit killed his brother and sister-in-law. He also lies that Lijah stated he was going to kill Rachel, too.
Lijah is planning to take Rachel to Dodge before retreating to the mountains where he feels safe, but he knows people will be looking for him and seeking vengeance for the death of Rachel's parents.
Matt Dillon catches up with Lijah and Rachel. He takes the big man into custody and locks him in the Dodge jail pending trial. A series of similar murders in Missouri are tied to the Parker murders. A fair trial is unlikely, but there is one person who is not convinced of the mountain man's guilt.
This story includes the only Gunsmoke appearance by actor Denny Miller. Miller was a basketball player for John Wooden at UCLA during the 1950s, and often played physically strong, brutish characters. He played Tarzan in a low-budget film in 1959. He had a recurring role as Duke Shannon in the series Wagon Train from 1961-1964. He also played a surfer named Duke in an episode of Gilligan's Island and an ape man character in another episode of that series. Miller was a great fit for the Lijah character in this story.
Recognizable character actor Harry Townes portrays Hale Parker in this episode. Hale Parker is the sneaky, slimy, manipulative character Townes played so well. This is his final appearance in a Gunsmoke role. He appeared in a total of seven episodes with his first appearance all the way back in Season 2.
A pre-Happy Days Erin Moran appears in this story as Rachel Parker. She would appear again later in Season 17 in the "P. S. Murry Christmas" episode. In a not-too-distant future she would begin playing Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days and the spinoff series Joanie Loves Chachi.
The jurors for the trial are made up of many familiar Gunsmoke characters -- Lathrop (Woody Chambliss), Howie (Howard Culver), Dump Hart (Lane Bradford), Halligan (Charles Wagenheim), and Tom Brown (Ed O'Connor). Herb Vigran plays Judge Brooker once again.
There are numerous problems with this rambling story. It never knows what it wants to be. The fake courtroom drama is particularly bad. Why was Lijah arrested and brought to trial? There is absolutely no evidence against him, except the story of an obviously disreputable man. Lijah had no motive for killing the Parkers, either. When the trial subplot collapses thanks to a deus ex machina event, a kid-in-the-well scene is tacked on for good measure. "Hey and let's make the dry well infested with rattlesnakes!" Snakes go where there is a source of food, and there is not likely to be much in the way of reptile food sources in an old, dry well.
With that said, if you enjoy creepiness, this story does contain a fair amount. The scene between the Hale and Rachel Parker characters where Hale tells Rachel her parents will not be able to get into heaven unless she lies to make sure Lijah is convicted is one such example. Of course, the idea of someone descending into a snake-infested well is guaranteed to freak out anyone who suffers from ophidiophobia and/or claustrophobia.