Ada Reed stands in as sheriff of a backwoods county in Idaho when her husband is recalled to the Army. The war in Korea won't last but a couple of months, and it would be simpler this way-"less trouble," the businessmen whisper. But a young woman found beaten and drowned at a gold mine was not part of the bargain, nor was the disabled soldier who admits to the killing.

The locals say the victim was stepping out at night, and the town leaders want Ada to wrap things up. But she was not dressed to meet a lover, Ada can see. And from his wheelchair the soldier could not have inflicted the wounds that sent his wife into the pond; nor did he forge the chain of gold that sank her.