Eleven year old James and his friend Walter decide to decorate the inside of the church with beer bottles and are startled by the custodian checking the door locks. The next morning the custodian is found lying in an alley, murdered.Who killed him-and why-and where did the town bum get the large gunny sack full of money he gave to the church? Assuming a connection between the two, the town bum is arrested for murder. Believing him to be innocent, James Grandmother researches old courthouse records and learns that an armored car robbery in a nearby town twenty-one years ago was never solved. On that same day, Dr. Reynolds and his son were killed when their house was burned to the ground, the very same day the town hotel was shut down by the sheriff as the result of a petition started by Dr. Reynolds. Coincidental?Grandmother sets a trap for the robbers by letting it be known the sack of money is hidden in her house. Suddenly James and his family become targets.