Will Geer

Indian scout Tom Jeffords is sent out to stem the war between the American settlers and Apaches in the late 1870s Arizona. He learns that the Indians kill only to protect themselves, or out of retaliation for white atrocities.

Barbara and Al adopt Eric, who is deaf and mute, and take him camping in Santa Cruz Mountains of California. Eric becomes lost and is found by a hermit named Crazy Jack, who teaches him how to survive in the woods.

After a botched robbery results in the brutal murder of a rural family, two drifters elude police, in the end coming to terms with their own mortality and the repercussions of their vile atrocity.