The Long, Hot Summer

Varner has two concerns: Clara's indifference to finding a husband and Ben Quick's return to town.

Varner learns that Ben Quick needs a bank loan to rebuild his farm, and Varner means to make sure he doesn't get it.

On his way home for his 21st birthday party, Jody stops to pick up a young hitchhiker - a girl who has two men following her.

Willow Sterne comes to Frenchman's Bend looking for former boy friend Ben Quick - whom she hopes to lure back with her sizable divorce settlement.

Willow's continuing pursuit of Ben leads to tragic consequences for someone, and jail for Ben.

Lonnie McBain claims that Varner is trying to force him and his deaf-mute sister off their land.

Varner disapproves of daughter Clara's romance with Charles Pettigrew, a scholarly college student whom he considers a weakling.

Pro-football star Scott Manning returns to Frenchman's Bend and gets a hero's welcome from everyone except Clara, who is deeply disturbed by his homecoming.

A state senator's daughter comes home from school to destroy a letter the headmistress sent her father.

Desperate for harvest hands, Ben hires a couple who once crossed Varner - and whom Varner has told to get out of town.

Clara and Jody are visited by an old family friend who's carrying a large amount of cash.

Ben purchases part ownership of a lumberyard that Varner wanted to buy.

Dan Duryea plays Ben's scheming cousin, who arrives with plans to take over Ben's farm.

Ben's house is burglarized by Joe Hagen, an escaped convict who once had Ben and his dad run out of town.

A tractor uncovers the remains of a man Ben's father was suspected of murdering.

Reclusive Maribelle Kirkpatrick asks Eula to come live with her.

Jody is impressed with a tough-looking motorcycle gang that roars into town.

Varner learns he has a tumor that may be malignant.

John Cassavetes plays an escaped convict who's looking for his former girl friend---Varner's nurse.

Gena Rowlands plays Varner's new romantic interest, the widow of a former employee.

Curley Beeman plans to join a plot to kidnap Jody.

Clara's old friend Katy returns from Europe with her Italian fiance.

Eleanor Davis comes to visit her children---who think she is dead.

Angry because his father passed him over for a promotion at the bank, Jody leaves home and goes to work for Ben Quick.

Will's jet-set cousin has some definite changes in mind for the Varner household.

Varner's visitor: his former construction foreman, who years before suffered a crippling injury saving Clara's life.