A rodeo bronc rider must stay astride his horse for 8 seconds in order to qualify. Cassius Bruce, a senior at Montana State College in 1950 can usually do just that, both in bareback and saddle bronc competitions. He enjoys every aspect of rodeo until the news of the murder of a lovely coed who was his friend and fellow rodeoer reaches him. The coroner says her death occurred in fewer than 8 Seconds. Cass is stunned when he realizes he is the prime suspect in the crime of murder in the first degree, and his life is rocked for far longer than 8 Seconds. How can he defend himself when there are no clues to the real killer? The Bruce family (first met in Jim Moore's previous novels) gathers to defend the innocence of the young cowboy who swears he did not kill the young woman found dead at the bottom of the pool at Hunter's Hot Springs. Will his Aunt Merci and her law partner be able to convince a jury that Cass is telling the truth?.