Charlton Heston, playing Col. Owen, comes back after nearly a decade spent as an army surgeon to his home in Pennsylvania. Upon his return, he learns that his deceased brother stands accused of negligence at a coal mine, resulting in deaths. His mother (Mildred Dunnock) and the local doctor, "Scobee" (Rhys Williams), want him to remain and assist the community, but he soon finds out his brother had accumulated consid…