 Badly injured and hunted by the police, Lin Vanner takes refuge in a priest s home, and tells him what has happened. When Vanner was working in a Mexican oil field, he captured a man who was suspected of a payroll robbery, but then felt responsible when the man died in police custody. As a result of the incident, Vanner s fiancée broke off their engagement, and he resigned from his job. He later felt compelled to visit the dead man s widow, and ended up working on her ranch. But, as he now explains to the priest, the past has quickly caught up with him.