The house on the hill in Merridan belonged to Captain Slocum. It was regarded as a house of mystery, and it was protected by dogs that ran the grounds at night and armed men who allowed no visitors, even when the captain was away from the house, which for periods of time on end he was. Don Grier was still a boy when he braved the terrors of the captain's domain to steal a watermelon. It made Don Grier a hero, and a hero has to be challenged. Don's father had been executed for killing his brother. Don cannot believe the charge is true and increasingly is determined that he must go to Chalmer's Creek, where the murder occurred, and learn the truth. On the way there Don is given the most intensive training in the toughness and fighting skills he will need by the man who always guarded the captain's house on the hill, a man somehow enslaved to the captain. Once at Chalmer's Creek, Don finds himself playing a dual role: that of the hunter and the hunted.