Unknown to everyone in the valley, two young men – opinionated Arthur Gilroy and his friend Lowell Rightmeyer who does whatever Arthur says – both strangers to the valley, are on their way to rob the bank in Pixley. They change their plans when they learn that the next day, the Cannonball, without any armed guards, will make its express run from Hooterville to Pixley for the bank shipment. Arthur and Lowell decide to stay the night at the Shady Rest and stop the train the next day by placing a barricade on the tracks so that they can hold it up. Kate and the family …