He revives his love affair with Melinda Marquand, who married Dr. Ned Thomas while Lonnie was serving time for the accident that she had actually caused.

Peter Marquand and Ned return to the lodge and inform Otis that the charges against Lonnie are based on lies.

[7] Other films produced as part of the agreement included Squad Car, Secret of the Purple Reef and Frontier Judge.

[12] In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson called Desire in the Dust "an interesting little picture" while noting the film's striking similarities with The Long, Hot Summer (1958), although with one important difference: "[W]hereas 'Summer' collapsed in honeysuckle absurdity, 'Desire' explodes theatrically in about three directions, bloodhounds included."

Thompson praised the performances, especially that of Martha Hyer as "an ice-cold vixen, indeed," but ended his review by summarizing the film as a "... curious picture, which shifts from the beguiling to the ridiculous.