Dan Norman is sheriff in the farming community of Grafton. At a fall blood drive, he chats with Louise Darling and her husband, Tiny. Dan suspects Tiny of being responsible for some break-ins. Dan next runs into Tiny in a fight at the Lime Bucket Tavern. Dan puts Tiny in jail for the night; he stops by the Darlings' house to tell Louise. A series of thefts the following February is blamed on a gang nicknamed the Freight Haulers. Old Henry Hamilton has a tractor stolen from his machine shed. When Dan arrives to take the report, Louise is at Hamilton's farm as well. She tells Dan that she and Tiny are separated; he's living with his brother, Jerry Tate, in Pringmar. Dan gets the crop duster Paul Francis of Kelsey to take him up in his blue-and-white Piper Cub to look for the stolen machinery, unsuccessfully. Dan gets dressed up for an End of Vandalism Dance at the Grafton gym. A band called Brian Davis and Slagheap plays. Tiny shows up and smashes a window with a crowbar. He hits Dan in the head, then leaves. Dan goes to Louise's house, and finds that Tiny hasn't been there. He picks up deputy Ed Aiken in Morrisville, and they go to Tiny's brother's place in Pringmar. Jerry Tate tells them that Tiny won't stop at the house if he sees their squad car. When Dan and Ed go to move the car, Jerry locks up the house and turns out the lights.