A past lieutenant colonel during World War II, Joel Bleeker manages one of the town’s hotels with his daughter, Cathy. He fixes the clock and hears strange vehicle noises outside. Curious, he walks out to the veranda to see Cathy and the owners of the local hardware store. A line of motorcycle club members stop in front of the hotel, and leader named Gar Simpson asks if his accompanying men can use the hotel facilities. Simpson is very polite, and asks if twenty of his men can eat at the dining room.  Bleeker complies and talks to Simpson for a while about the motorcycle club. He then goes to the kitchen to protect his daughter from the preying eyes of the bikers. Before leaving the kitchen he tells Cathy to go upstairs. Bleeker hears the men singing and goes to see what the chaos is about. The men are drunk and are beginning to wreck havoc in the hotel. Bleeker leaves the hotel and goes to the local bar, where he sees one of the bikers who removes his goggles. He seems young and disapproves of his fellow bikers’ rowdy behavior.  When he returns to the hotel, he finds upturned tables and has to herd some bikers back to the main floor after finding them snooping on the second floor.  To his shock, he finds the hardware store locals sprawled on the floor. Angrily, Bleeker marches to Simpson and tells him to get his men out of the hotel. Simpson gives him money to pay for the damages.  The men are on their motorcycles outside the lobby and two of them suddenly drive into the hotel through the lobby doors. Cathy stands at the bottom of the hotel steps, and in the blink of an eye, Bleeker sees her broken body laid out in blood. The doctor comes but Cathy passes away.  Bleeker is bewilderment, and the young biker from the bar walks in saying he felt guilty. People begin to beat him, Bleeker included, though the boy shouts pleadingly that he was not among the drunk men. Suddenly, however, Bleeker finds himself protecting the boy from the harsh blows, and men lay the boy’s body out on the veranda.  Bleeker stands on the veranda, musing over the events in disbelief. He is angry but know he must forgive the dead and the living.