Beekers Barn

Originally Aired: December 20, 1959 Gunsmoke #402, "Beekers Barn," finds Marshal Matt Dillon facing a tense family conflict on a bitter cold Christmas Eve. When rancher Jethro Beeker storms into the marshal's office demanding that trespassers be thrown off his property, Matt discovers the "criminals" are Will Ross and Harmony, Jethro's own daughter whom he disowned two years earlier when she married Will. The young couple, caught in a snowstorm while traveling, sought shelter in Beeker's barn out of desperation. When Matt and Chester arrive at the ranch, they find Will armed and defensive, protecting Harmony in the tack room where he's made her a bed of straw and blankets. The situation grows more urgent when Matt discovers why the couple so desperately needs shelter: Harmony is about to give birth. As Doc Adams is summoned through the snowstorm and the stubborn Jethro refuses to acknowledge his daughter's plight, the marshal must navigate between an unforgiving father and a frightened young couple facing the arrival of their child on one of the coldest nights of the year.