Phil and George are brothers and joint owners of the biggest ranch in their Montana valley. Phil is the bright one George the plodder. Phil is tall and angular; George is stocky and silent. Phil is a vicious sadist with a seething contempt for weakness to match his thirst for dominance; George has a gentle loving soul. They sleep in the room they shared as boys and so it has been for forty years. When George unexpectedly marries a young widow and brings her to live at the ranch Phil begins a relentless campaign to destroy his brother's new wife. But he reckons without an unlikely protector.