Cast a Long Shadow plot
"The roughest vengeance-trail a man ever rode !"
Matt Brown is a wandering and heavy drinker. Chip Donohue, the foreman of Jake Keenan's ranch, visits Matt and tells him that Jake Keenan has died and that Matt has inherited the ranch. Matt is most likely Keenan's illegitimate son. The families of all the ranchers have put together money to buy Matt out so that the jobs and the ranch itself can be preserved. Matt agrees to be bought out. Then the employees are told that Keenan was heavily in debt and that the ranch and all its belongings will be seized shortly.