The fourth of 12 singing Westerns starring the SilveryVoiced Baritone Fred Scott Melody of the Plains begins peacefully enough with Scott as cowboy Steve Condon warbling Don Swander and June Hersheys Albuquerque The story quickly takes a rather grim turn when one of Steves colleagues is shot and killed after selling out to a gang of rustlers Mistakenly believing he fired the deadly shot a dejected Steve along with sidekick Fuzzy goes to work for Buds father a rancher nearly forced into bankruptcy by a crooked land developer