A Bullet Is Waiting

Just off the California coast, a small airplane carrying Sheriff Frank Munson and his prisoner, Ed Stone, crashes, killing the pilot. Handcuffed together, Ed and Frank struggle into the woods, before Ed knocks out Frank, unlocks the cuffs and heads into the nearby mountains. Although suffering from a sprained ankle, Frank revives and follows. Ed soon comes across Cally Canham, a tomboyish young woman keeping watch over a herd of sheep with her collie dog, Shep. As Cally questions Ed, Frank appears and cautions her that Ed is an escaped prisoner from Utah whom he has been tracking for two years. Suspicious of both men, Cally leads them at gunpoint back to the rustic ranch house that she shares with her father David, a former professor at Oxford, who is away collecting supplies. A harsh rainstorm rises abruptly and Cally reluctantly offers the men shelter. Ed helps Cally with a sickly lamb and prepares dinner, while Frank morosely nurses his ankle. When Frank reveals that Ed is a murderer who has fled across two states, Cally asserts that she has no interest in their problems and offers them her father's room. During the night, Ed rises and finds Cally's rifle and removes the cartridges. The following morning, warned by Shep, Cally finds Ed attempting to flee with a bag of supplies. Frank hobbles out with the rifle, only to discover that it is unloaded and is dismayed when Cally agrees to show Ed to the mountain pass. In the hills, Ed comments on the unfairness of David bringing Cally up in this isolated locale, but Cally insists she is happy. As they near the pass, Cally advises Ed that the area is usually flooded after severe storms, making it impossible to cross, but he insists on going on. Taken by Cally's unspoiled nature, Ed attempts to kiss her, but she defends herself with a knife before fleeing back to the house. Ed continues to the pass, which he finds flooded with raging water. Back at the ranch, Cally tends to the recovering lamb as Frank criticizes her for allowing Ed's escape. Ed then returns, admitting he was unable to swim through the pass. The rains begin again, and after talking at length with Cally, Ed discovers, with some resentment, that she is a sophisticated, well-educated young woman. While they talk, Frank attempts to get the rifle, but Ed prevents him, forcing Cally to hide the gun in the woodpile later that night. The rain continues for three days, during which time Frank's ankle heals and Ed attempts to repair a broken radio. When Cally reads out loud some of the philosophical ideas from her father's unpublished manuscript, Ed scoffs and accuses David of having run away from life. After the weather clears, Ed offers to help Cally with the sheep, leaving Frank alone in the house searching for the rifle. Cally asks Ed to tell her his side of his past in Utah. Ed describes coming from a small town, where the large Munson family was prevalant, and to killing Frank's brother in a dispute over money that was owed him, but only after the brother attacked him. Ed also reveals that Frank is not a real sheriff, but had himself deputized in order to legally pursue his brother's killer. When Cally nearly steps on a rattlesnake, Ed kills the snake, then sends her home and promises to bring the herd in later. At the house, Frank pleads with Cally to give him the rifle, but she refuses and he bitterly accuses Ed of using her. Later, Cally changes into a dress and admits to Ed that she has fallen in love with him. The following morning Ed announces that the pass has cleared and he will be leaving. When Cally again refuses to tell Frank where the rifle is hidden, Frank attacks Ed to prevent him from leaving. Ed throws Frank into the woodpile and discovers the rifle there, but Shep prevents him from using it. The fight is halted by the arrival of David, who is startled by the men's presence. He orders Cally to explain the events, and despite his daughter's insistence that Ed killed in self-defense, he agrees with Frank that Ed must be returned to Utah. David then stuns Cally by revealing that he has sold the ranch, recognizing that she must have more experience in the outside world. Aware of his daughter's emotional involvement with Ed, David agrees to hear Ed's side of the story, but gives Frank the rifle. After hearing Ed's tale, David realizes that Ed returns Cally's affections and agrees that the embittered Frank will probably never let him return to Utah alive. When Ed promises to turn himself in, David offers him his jeep, advising him that the keys are in the glove compartment. At the jeep, Ed finds a pistol in the glove compartment. Furious over David's action, Frank chases Ed, and the men have a gunfight until Frank runs out of ammunition. Ed reveals that he has one more bullet, but gives himself up. David then offers to take both men back to Utah, and along with Cally, Shep and the lamb, the group sets off.