Sheriff Ben Stillman has enough of a hard time keeping the peace in the town of Clantick without having to worry about the likes of Matt Parrish. Since his father died, Matt has been responsible for the Circle P Ranch in the Two-Bear Mountains--and his hotheaded streak has been responsible for a lot of trouble with other ranchers...including his future father-in-law, Tom Suthern. Despite failing health and loss of profits, Tom refused to sell his spread to Matt, even with Matt about to marry old Tom's daughter. So when Matt is discovered in the presence of Tom's bullet-riddled corpse, people naturally assume he murdered the old man. Now, it's up to Ben Stillman to protect Matt from a trigger-happy posse and find the real killer--before it's too late and a powder keg of violence explodes in Three-Witch Valley.