They present FBI credentials and Ellen invites them in, curious, but suspecting nothing. The assassins discover that Pop used to be in the Secret Service before a hunting accident retired him. At first, Baron is terse but professional, and insists his men search the house. The assassins admire the perfect view of the train station from the Benson's living room window. This behavior raises the family's concerns until Baron tells them that the President of the United States is coming and that everyone has to stay in the house as a security precaution. Ever suspicious, Pop thinks it unusual that the FBI would be used to protect the President and not the Secret Service. Baron coolly explains that there's been a tip on an assassination attempt, so everybody's been called in: State Police, Secret Service and the FBI.

Just then Bart notices the patrol car drive up carrying Tod and Agent Carney. The assassins hide as Pop goes to the door and welcomes the sheriff and his old friend into the house. The following scene plays really well and the suddenness of the attack is shocking and effective. When Pop introduces Mr. Carney to Pidge, Pop tells him, "He protects the President." "You mean like Mr. Baron?," Pidge replies. "Who?," Carney asks. "Oh, you didn't know your boys got here ahead of you," Pop says as Baron and Wheeler, guns drawn, reveal themselves. A quick shot of Carney's face says it all. He knows it's a trap, but the sheriff suspects nothing. As Carney goes for his gun and tries to alert the sheriff, all hell breaks loose. Baron shoots Carney and knocks Ellen out, and while Tod slugs Wheeler, Benny shoots the sheriff in the arm. After the explosion of violence, the silence after the scene is deafening. Director Allen does a good job of letting it linger and sink in. Then a train whistle breaks the silence. A passing train muffled the shots, so the police at the station couldn't hear a thing.

The thugs wrap Carney's body in a rug and stash it in the basement. They all go into the living room where Tod asks Baron to set his fractured arm. The look of savagery on Baron's face as he pulls on the fractured arm is chilling, as is the look of disappointment when Tod somehow keeps from screaming in pain. Pop and Ellen take Tod into a bedroom to bandage him up, while Pidge stays with the assassins as a hostage. Benny and Wheeler carry a small kitchen table in front of the window overlooking the station to use as a platform for the semiautomatic rifle they hope to use in the assassination. The table is metal, so they drill brackets to the legs and then screw the brackets to the floor so the table will be rock solid. Pidge calls Baron a coward, and Baron tells him that he killed 27 Germans during the war and won a Silver Star. When Pidge claims he probably stole it, Baron slaps him hard across the face.

Bart gathers the three back into the living room, but not before Pop loads his gun, which he leaves in the top dresser drawer. As the assassins work, their plans slowly come out, mainly because Baron can't keep his trap shut. The Sheriff realizes this and tells Ellen they must keep him talking until he lets his guard down. We learn that Baron doesn't know who hired him to kill the president and doesn't care; that he's been paid $250,000 and will get another quarter million after the job is done.

In what turns out to be a strategic blunder, Baron sends a reluctant Benny into town to check on things, making him leave their car at the house in case he doesn't make it back. Benny heads off, mumbling.

Just when things settle down, Jud Kelly shows up to fix the TV. Baron frisks him and determines that nobody knows he was coming to the house so he won't be missed. Jud sees the rifle perched on the table by the window and wonders what it's all about. Slowly, it dawns on him that these men are real killers, and that this is no simple bank robbery. When told by Tod that they plan to assassinate the President of the United States, Jud's slow realization of horror makes for a nice, realistic scene.

Baron asks Ellen for some food and they go to the kitchen, where Baron explains that his parents weren't married and that his father was an alcoholic. Baron grew up in an orphanage and as a result cut himself off from his feelings, which he sees as a trap for suckers. Basic broken home stuff, but Richard Sale should be commended for attempting to explain how society helps create monsters like John Baron, and that twisted personalities seldom come from happy homes.

Their conversation is broken up by a commotion in the next room. Pidge slipped away and grabbed the cap pistol that Tod bought him and now holds it on Bart, who, thinking it's real, momentarily freezes. This causes Baron to laugh out loud as he tells Pidge, "Go ahead, kid, blow his brains out. A couple of big, bad men scared of a four bit cap pistol." Somehow, Bart doesn't see the humor of the situation.

Benny calls from town and tells Baron that the train's on time and that the limo will be parked between the tracks. But as Benny leaves the phone booth, Slim stops him and asks how he knew about "The Special," since it was a secret train that only ran that day. Caught in a lie, Benny panics and pulls out his revolver and shoots Slim in the gut. Slim slumps to the ground, but not before winging Benny in the side.

The shooting alerts the police at the train station and police cars race to the scene. One of them, with Agent Wilson aboard, confronts Benny behind a welding shop, and he's killed by a tommy gun-welding State Trooper (John Beradino). Wilson chides the trooper for killing their only link to the rest of the assassins. Wondering where the chief went, Wilson decides to backtrack and sends Haggerty to check on the chief's last known location - the house on the hill.

Alerted by the shooting, Baron realizes that the law is on the way, so he has Bart hustle their captives into the basement while Ellen stays behind to act as a decoy. He tells her to go outside and tell whoever shows up that the chief left with the sheriff , Pop and Pidge, and that she's in the house alone. Otherwise, everyone is dead.

Sure enough, Agent Haggerty shows up and meets Ellen just outside the house, with Baron hiding right behind the front door. It's a tense scene as she has to convince Haggerty that everything is all right. He finally leaves, and her hopes for a rescue go with him. Back inside, Baron compliments her acting skills. "I wish you were dead!" she tells him. "You haven't got the guts!," Baron snears, tossing his gun to her. She points it at him but then collapses in tears. It turns out that he had unloaded the gun before tossing it to her, saying "I didn't give you a whole chance, but you didn't even take half a chance." Another good scene.

With just fifteen minutes to go, Baron has Jud fix the TV, mostly to keep him occupied. Pop blew a power amp and Jud just happens to have another one with him. Pop tells him that he'd get better reception if he connected the main plate lead to a solid ground, like the metal leg to the table holding the assassin's rifle. At first, Jud is confused, since he knows that 5000 volts would then flow to the table, but then he gets what Pop is trying to do and that this is a way to stop the bad guys. Just to make sure the plan will work, Pop fakes a heart attack so he can send Tod to get his pills, which are next to the gun in the dresser, but Baron sends Pidge instead.

Pidge switches his cap pistol for the real gun and returns with it and a glass of water, but he can't get the gun to Pop, so he just places it on a nearby table. Pop drops the glass of water on the floor right under the metal table so whoever stands there will be grounded.

A train whistle blows. It's 5 o'clock and the president is on his way. Bart steps up to the rifle and grabs it and is immediately electrocuted, forcing him to convulsively fire off a couple of rounds. Realizing what Jud has done, Baron shoots him and disconnects the set. Bart drops to the ground, dead. The police at the station return fire, smashing the windows in the front of the house. Pop grabs for Baron's legs and is pistol whipped across the head. Tod throws a heavy ashtray at Baron's back, as Pidge shoots the real gun and hits the wall next to Baron. Baron reels and fires off a shot at Pidge. Tod dives to protect Pidge, causing the gun to fall on the floor next to Ellen. Baron turns back to the rifle and prepares to squeeze off a round, but the train speeds right past the station without stopping.

Devastated, Baron turns back around, mumbling, "It didn't stop....It didn't stop!" Ellen, who's finally had enough of John Baron, shoots him once in the stomach. Then the sheriff takes the gun from her hand and shoots Baron again, just to make sure; symbolically uniting them in justifiable homicide. Baron, now pathetic and beaten, slowly crumples to the floor, dead.

Now its time to wrap up loose ends. Pop, with his head bandaged, is lying in bed with Pidge beside him. Agent Wilson explains that once the Secret Service knew the assassins were in town, they simply couldn't let the president stop, so he went on to LA. Wilson thanks them for their help and leaves. Pidge tells Pop he wants to grow up to be president.

Back in town, Tod meets Ellen in front of a hospital. He tells her that Jud didn't make it but that Slim should pull through. She tells him she finally understands what Pop told her about principles and making them stick and asks Tod if he'd like a ride to church tomorrow. He answers her with a kiss. She drives off, when another motorist (Ted Stanhope) pulls up to ask directions.

DRIVER: Say, officer?
TOD: Yeah?
DRIVER: Could you tell me how to get to Three Rivers?
TOD: You go down to the first intersection...you turn left...it's about 60 miles.
DRIVER: Thanks. What's this town?
TOD: Suddenly.
DRIVER: Suddenly what?
TOD: No, that's the name.
DRIVER: That's a funny name for a town.
TOD: Oh, I don't know. I don't know about that.

And Tod walks off screen, through a town that's finally lived up to its name.

THE END