All of Dodge City is suffering from a drought. A rainmaker (Guy Raymond) tries to put an end to it before the town's public well, their last source of water, runs dry.

With a well earned vacation disturbed by the arrest of a hardened criminal, Matt and Kitty head back to Dodge. The stage they are on is sabotaged and end up wrecking. Kitty is quick witted enough to switch identities between Matt and the prisoner before the outlaws get to them. Thinking Dillon is dying and Matt is really Monk Wiley, they go on planning to extort money from Dodge to get Dillon back alive.

Kitty and fellow traveling passenger Newly O'Brien are captured by Mexican outlaw Manez and his gang.

A teenage burglar involved in a murder is shot and left to die by his partners.

Gunman Will Mannon comes to Dodge, after shooting Festus and taking his mule, to face Matt in a gunfight.

Ma Colter tries to dissuade her youngest son from following his older brothers into a life of crime.

A hidecutter starts trouble in the Long Branch and Matt comes to the rescue throwing him out of town. When Festus goes up to fetch Dr. Chapman, he finds the old scudder there himself. Offering to buy Doc a drink, he can't resist and they surprise everyone down at the Long Branch. While they are all excited to see Doc, Matt is out checking the town and ends up shot in the back by the hidecutter he just threw out. Doc's homecoming is ruined when he realizes that if he tries to remove the bullet he could paralyze Matt and he doesn't want to be the one to do it. So, he contacts a surgeon in Denver, and loading Matt in the baggage car of the train, Kitty, Doc, Festus, and Newly all head for Denver along with a Federal gold shipment.

Newly falls in love with a woman who could put him in danger, once her past is known.

A guy comes to Dodge for revenge on a guy who might just deserve it.

Two outlaws head back to Dodge City to visit their mother who doesn't trust her son's. Who claim to want to work the farm and take care of their mother. They intend to take their mother's money along with Doc.

When a lawman's gun arm is shot up, he's essentially a sitting duck. That's what Matt figures when his ability to shoot again is in doubt. So, he leaves the badge and Dodge behind as well as Kitty, Festus, Doc, and Newly. Like vultures circling, outlaws start coming in to gun Dillon down. But, Dillon is out and about and a new marshal is in town. He meets a young man who is handy with a gun but refuses to shoot any living creature even if it were for his own life. Circumstances prove to both men that sometimes responsibility to duty requires more than just the ability to shoot.