Two "Gunsmoke" writers teamed on this modern-day Western set at a rodeo in San Francisco's Cow Palace. A bronc rider dies in what appears to be an accident. A rodeo clown looks around the scene after the police leave and discovers the rider's rope -- which was cut almost halfway through before it broke, leaving the bronc free to throw him. The police come back to investigate the scene, and before long the chief suspect is also murdered in another "accident."

Stone and Keller investigate the murder of a society publisher whose method was to coerce subscriptions from wealthy clients by blackmailing them. The investigation leads the detective to a wealthy woman and her daughter, who were among the ones being blackmailed and who still have secrets to hide.