Freedom of the press and free enterprise clash in Warbler, Oklahoma when Rudy Serling, new owner of the modest Warbler newspaper, finds a newspaper very similar to his own in racks all over town just as he is getting ready to send his first edition to press. Turning the town shopper into a subscription newspaper was kept very quiet as Rudy was buying the established paper. Now, when he attempts to sue, his lawyer informs him he has no legal way out except to compete with his brash competition. “I’ll beat that bastard and run him out. Even though I hate this town, I’ll teach them what journalism is,” Rudy confides to his brother, also a newspaperman. “It’ll have to be so obvious he’s just publishing trash.” His brother raises the critical question: “And if they want trash?” The rivalry puts the papers at their worst, with the townspeople suddenly all-important voters Rudy has to court despite his disgust with the town and his lot. And, yes, they do seem to want trash. Until the battle pitches from unsavory to murderous, and Warbler citizens are forced to ponder the struggle’s core issue: the difference between a gossip sheet and news that’s fit to print.