A 5th season episode whose story was supplied by producer Aaron Spelling, "A Warm Day in Heaven" is set in the Arizona town of Heaven, a population of 207 friendly citizens conducting their business peacefully. Into this quiet community comes a stranger calling himself Nick Finn (Thomas Mitchell), immediately stirring up trouble behind the back of blacksmith Michael Peters (Lon Chaney) by poisoning the horse he was about to sell to an irate buyer who chooses to make his purchase at the stable of Jonas Mulvey (Hank Patterson). Ruffled feathers continue when Finn partners with Michael to sell his stock by auction, earning the blacksmith a pretty penny at the expense of his friendship with old Jonas. Finn also ingratiates himself with banker Ben Stark (Malcolm Atterbury), convincing the townspeople to cater to cattle drovers for increased profit, but Michael remains uneasy after another group of horses also perishes. In no time, the once upstanding community transforms into a rowdy center for drinking and carousing, where the women are told to stay indoors or risk being assaulted. The treacherous Finn is now vice president of the bank, just in time for one final transaction with a downtrodden Michael, coming out on top of a fracas with two conniving drunks, now determined to sell his place and leave town for good. The blacksmith finally calls Finn's bluff when he overplays his hand, and it appears that cooler heads will prevail after too many warm days in Heaven. An obviously ailing Thomas Mitchell does not come off well in this atypical role, but Lon Chaney's steadfast heroics prove to be as gratifying as other sympathetic turns on small screen Westerns, forgotten at the time but surviving the years to entertain anew.