Lucas Buck pulls strings in order to make sure he adopts Caleb. Caleb meets Loris Holt, a lady who seems to have a knowledge of the occult. The local judge gets to decide who will adopt Caleb.

Carter got away with molesting a girl, via Sheriff Buck's influence, but 17 years later, stalls about providing his own 15 year-old daughter as the Sheriff's go-fer. When junkyard owner Carter doesn't meet Buck's midnight deadline, immediately Carter's wife is maimed in a household accident. Buck offers to buy the orphaned Caleb an elaborate science project, while Caleb's dead sister & Dr. Crower counsel him to focus on learning, not cheating to win.

Gail accuses Sheriff Buck of foul play when she learns that her childhood friend Holly Gallagher, who was Sheriff Buck's girlfriend, was with her just before she mysteriously drove her car off a bridge. As Lucas takes Gail for a ride to demonstrate for her where and how this happened, he takes her by surprise with a kiss. Caleb goes up against his friend Boone in an archery competition, and Deputy Ben must deal with the abusive behavior of his ex-wife's current husband.