This Gunsmoke episode explores the dark consequences of poverty and family dysfunction when a strange, yellow-haired young man named Budge appears in Dodge City with an urgent request—Marshal Matt Dillon must arrest his own father for murder. The trail leads to the desolate homestead of the Groat family on Potato Road, where Paul, his wife Ma, and Budge struggle with desperation that has festered into something far more dangerous than a simple killing. What begins as a murder investigation quickly becomes a hostage situation when Ma Groat tricks Matt and Chester into a potato cellar prison, revealing a twisted family plot to rob the Dodge City bank with the marshal already dead and buried.

Episode Highlights & Quotes

"We got a plan, Marshall. We got a real fine plan and it was all my thinking. We are going to rob a bank Marshall right there in Dodge... and you see how we're going to do it. There won't be nobody to stop us. 'cause we will we'll already have you dead." – Ma Groat revealing the deadly plot

"Blaming her, it'd be like, well, blaming the night for being dark... She's had it too rough, Chester, she doesn't know what she's doing anymore." – Marshal Dillon's compassionate understanding of Ma Groat's desperation

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