They called him Stone Cold Joe because he'd lost his emotions as a child and his face was set as cold as stone. Marshal Joe Stone grew up lonely, and now he would die lonely. The Cloud Hills outlaw gang was coming to Snake Pit, Texas, where he was the law. They were intent on killing him to avenge the death of Buddy, the brother of Turk, leader of the gang and the meanest and most dangerous outlaw this side of the Mississippi River. But Joe, a fighter, was determined not to go into the afterlife without taking some of Turk's gang with him.