Snakefish, California, is rich in the currency of post-holocaust America—gasoline. Almost leveled by the Soviet missiles that annihilated most of the West Coast, Snakefish is in the midst of a reconstruction, financed by a commodity far more valuable than the usual Deathlands jack. But greed and man's lust for power threaten to shatter the hard-won peace and tranquility of this fledgling community as disparate factions fight for control of the substance that will give them wealth beyond their wildest dreams. Ryan Cawdor and his companions emerge from a gateway and step into the path of a smoldering war for power.