Troubled Waters is set in Wyoming during the conflict between cattlemen and sheepmen. Rowan McCoy, owner of the Circle Diamond, is a man of rare integrity. When sheepman J.C. Tait belligerently crosses an agreed line of demarcation with a herd of sheep, he precipitates a crisis that McCoy decides to solve with a night raid on the sheep herd. McCoy gives a strict order that there is to be no gun play. That order is obeyed by everyone except Hal Falkner, a man who has a deep personal grudge against Tait. He starts a gun play that results in the killing of two men and reverses the situation. Now if the cattlemen do not stick together, they all face life in prison. In Robber's Roost, Sheriff Val Collins of Pima County in Arizona Territory is riding on a train when it is boarded by the notorious Dolf LeRoy gang. Though the robbery attempt fails, LeRoy kidnaps Helen Meredith and holds her for ransom. Val Collins's job is to see that this new plot is also foiled and to do it without any harm to the hostage.
