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The arrival of Shane
A stranger named Shane rides up on the Starrett farm. Even though he is a stranger, the Starretts are kind to him. They feed him and offer him a place to rest before he continues his travels. They could have ignored him or just given him a drink of water and sent him on his way, but they chose to do the right thing and be kind to a stranger, expecting nothing in return. -
The duplicity of Ledyard
When Ledyard, a peddler, tries to cheat Joe Starrett by over-charging him (three times the actual price) for a piece of farm equipment, Shane does the right thing even though it means making an enemy out of Ledyard in the process. He could have let Ledyard's price gouging go to avoid getting involved, but he points the inflated price out to his friend to keep him from wasting his hard-earned money. -
The turning of the cheek
Fletcher uses his cowhands to bully the farmers to get them to sell him his land. Chris, one of Fletcher's young cowhands, taunts Shane in the local saloon, trying to pick a fight with him. He suggests that farmers only drink soda pop and smell, but Shane doesn't take the bait. He does the right thing and turns the other cheek even though it would have been much more satisfying to have beaten Chris to a bloody pulp, as Shane was stronger and a much more experienced fighter. -
The betrayal of a friend
Fletcher eventually hires a professional gunman to run the farmers off after his previous acts of intimidation fail. This pushes Shane into a violent confrontation with Fletcher's gunman and cowhands. Joe Starrett is determined to go with him, but Shane doesn't want him to because he knows Joe has a family depending on him, so Shane strikes him with his gun to knock him out and prevent him from going to the gun battle; therefore, Shane betrays his friend in order to do the right thing. -
Lesson learned
After the big battle and Shane's departure, Chris offers to take his place on the Starrat farm. By doing this, he shows that he knew he was wrong in trying to push the farmers off their land and now wants to help them to make up for his bad behavior. In other words, even though it was hard, Chris had to swallow his pride and admit his wrong-doing because it was the right thing to do.
