When Nick meets a young buck that thinks he is the toast of the town, Nick sees a lot of himself in the tough gun-carrying teenager. Since Nick was acting about as stupid in his younger days as the boy - he thought he would befriend him and try to straighten his life out.
Through Jarrod, Nick learn that the boy, Danny Wiggins, is the son of Dr and Ms Wiggins. But when Nick goes to their farm house they advise that they do not have a son.
When Nick finally catches up with Danny it ends up with Nick being knock unconscious and tied up in an old abandon mine that is a threat to cave in at any moment. And there we learn the reason that Danny is living a life of crime instead of being with his parents.
Danny found out that Ms Wiggins had been captured by Indians and that his father is really an Indian brave named Running Dog. The Wiggins have turned their back on him making him hate everything going on around him.
Danny, always thinking of money, sends a ransom note to the Barkleys demanding $5000 for Nick's life. After they pay there is a cave-in at the mine. With Danny trapped and Nick unable to free himself it will come down to Danny actually believing in people for both of them to keep living.
This was a nice story and was well acted by the entire cast. Peter Breck was again excellent as the rough and tumble Nick Barkley. The only thing that seemed odd was the casting of a young blue eyed, blond haired kid as the half-white/half-Indian Danny Wiggins. Michael Burns did a nice job playing the part but the viewer was befuddled at the casting. Had the boy been projected as more Indian in nature then the story would have made more sense to the viewer.
Even with the awkward cast and the sappy ending, the episode did do a good job of keeping the interest of the viewer. Nice watch