In the midst of negotiating for oil rights, Redigo (Richard Egan) is called out of town---leaving Tal to handle the bargaining. Tal must deal with Hettie Burton, a troublesome businesswoman, and a hostile crew. Young Tal garret, directing his first drilling operation, faces trouble from a shrewed businesswoman and a hostile crew. Hettie Burton forces Tal to accept a three-week time limit on the well. When Tal asks for a needed extension, Hettie agrees if he will marry her granddaughter, Charlotte.

James Gregory plays a thoroughly contemptible character, a sharecropper who uses his sensitive young son as a pawn in a get-rich-quick oil scheme. Gregory is fine, and so is Terry Moore, but the story of the "poor white trash" suddenly overwhelmed by riches, runs steadily downhill.