Trampas and Betsy Garth discover the body of a murdered neighbor, Mr. Keel. Trampas encounters a Latvian immigrant, Karl Rilke (Karl Boehm) and his pregnant wife Maria (Ilze Taurins), and discovers they have Keel's rifle although Karl claims he bought the gun from a man on the road. Judge Garth believes Karl innocent and that Keel's son Johnny (Robert Duvall) is the murderer, so he defends Karl at the trial.