A guitar playing stranger named Cain Vestal arrives in Dodge City. He visits Doc Adams to confirm a diagnosis of heart failure. Vestal only has a brief time left to live, and Doc introduces him to Matt Dillon and Kitty Russell. He plays the Stephen Foster classic "Beautiful Dreamer" for Doc, Kitty, and Matt, as well as the other patrons of the Long Branch Saloon. Vestal plans to leave the next morning on the stagecoach with the intended destination of Arizona so he can see the desert before he dies.
After Matt and Doc leave the saloon, Vestal sees a local wealthy land baron named Joel Adams enter the saloon. Cain's demeanor immediately changes from cordial and friendly to dark and dour.
After seeing Adams, Vestal does not leave as planned the next morning. He purchases a pistol and asks Chester Goode to show him how to use it. When Matt questions Cain's reasons for buying a gun and for asking Chester to teach him to shoot, the man tells the Marshal it is a personal matter. Although Cain says he has never met Adams, it is clear he has a major beef with the arrogant land baron.
Harry Bartell provides a stand-out performance as Cain Vestal in this story. Bartell was a familiar character actor, but he was usually relegated to smaller parts. In fact, he appears in nine other Gunsmoke episodes, but he is not a lead actor in any of those other appearances.
Mark Roberts only made this single appearance in a Gunsmoke episode. He plays the Joel Adams character. The actor's career featured several roles in westerns, crime dramas, and television movies.
Cain Vestal's desire to eliminate Adams makes sense on the surface, but it is strange that Vestal only begins his pursuit after he just happens to see Adams in the Long Branch. The opportunistic aspect of Vestal's quest for vengeance is very curious. Vestal mentions one of the reasons he decided to travel to the west was he had heard Adams had moved west, but it appears encountering Adams in Dodge City was happenstance.
This story share some plot elements with the previous Season 2 installment "Executioner" in the way it portrays men willing to go to drastic measures to see that justice is served. It also borrows slightly from the "Doc's Revenge" episode from Season 1 where Doc sees someone and immediately wants to kill them.
It is noteworthy that Gunsmoke used guitars and people who play them as a plot element in a few episodes. "The Guitar" from the first season features an eccentric character that plays the guitar. This story features a guitar player facing the end of his life. Chester Goode gives a woman guitar lessons in Season 7's "Catawomper." Season 10's "Song for Dying" features Theodore Bikel as a guitar-playing troubadour. Season 11 includes "My Father's Guitar" with Beau Bridges as a disturbed guitar player.