 Gerald and Sally Norton own an old mine, which they refuse to sell to rancher Ken Bascombe, who wants the property for its available water supply. Someone shoots up the Nortons  campfire, and a ghostly voice warns them to get out. Prospector Amos Catledge arrives with his diffident donkey Sheba, reporting that he saw Bascombe galloping away. Meanwhile, foreman Roy Dowson is having an affair with Bascombe s wife Hazel. Coincidentally, Perry Mason is in town to question Amos and talks with the assayer, Crawford Wright, about the local mines. After another attack, Gerald takes matters into his own hands. He finds Bascombe s body, shot in the back. The murder weapon turns out to be Gerald s rifle, and he is charged with murder. Amos disappears and Perry has to depose Sheba to get to the bottom of things.