In the early 1930s, Sheriff Levi Taylor is called to Wallton's creek where the body of a six-year old girl lies strangled. Citizens in the small town are horrified by the murder, and Taylor can find no suspects. Talking with the local doctor, Taylor discovers that over the past ten years there have been other dead children, all of the deaths attributed to accidents. Although the local banker offers a reward of $500 (a tremendous amount of money during the Depression years), no perpetrator is found. Then, another young child goes missing . . .