Marshal Chappie Wesford, recalled to active Army duty, arrives in Altaveel to give a Civil War Award to Roger Proudmire and Calvin Fedderson. He talks to Bishop Thorneycraft and others about the two honorees regarding their honesty and worthiness, but the Henberry family thinks he has come to take over their business and land, and proceed to make his life difficult. Chappie meets Esther Bigknife, a widow, but there is a relationship between her and Milt Henberry. Milt doesn't like him interfering, and he and Oakley, his young brother, try to kill him. It all comes to a head on the Fourth of July, when Wesford delivers the award at the big Fourth of July celebration and asks Esther to marry him. Chappie returns to Altaveel a few months later on the trail of outlaws who held up the bank in Price, and Milt Henberry is his deputy. One of the outlaws is Obadiah Henberry, Milt's uncle, who was invited to do a job for the elder Jim Henberry and to bring a couple of friends. Wesford and Milt track the outlaws down, and there is a shootout on the Six-Mile Road as they bring the robbers to justice.