The railroad wants the Hollis ranch. The new owner wants to keep it. Everyone in Dry Fork is about to pick a side.
When old Jeb Hollis died, everyone in Dry Fork assumed the ranch would go to auction and then to the railroad, which needs its water and its pass. Instead the will left every acre to the rancher, a newcomer nobody took seriously, and the railroad's agent arrived on the next train with an offer and a pair of hired men. Now the circuit judge is in town for the hearing, the blacksmith's forge is the only neutral ground left, and a hired gun with a past in this valley has taken the railroad's money and the rancher's coffee in the same week. The water is running low, the cattle need moving, and someone has started shooting at night.
5 roles. You take one; your friends take the rest, and the narrator plays any left over. Anyone can bring a character of their own into a role instead.
The late rancher's young widow, a schoolteacher from the east whom the whole valley expects to sell, who has decided not to.
A gunman who grew up in this valley, left it in a hurry, and has come back working for both sides.
A circuit judge who holds court in saloons across the territory and has never once been bought, though he lets people try.
The railroad's land agent for the territory, a reasonable man with an unreasonable employer and a deadline.
The town's blacksmith, whose forge is the only place in Dry Fork where everyone still talks to everyone.