At a picnic near Beaumount, Texas, in 1892, Billy Jack and Sarah Jane Thornton become involved in their Sunday School teachers dream of finding oil at Spindletop Hill and they befriend an Indian widow who lives nearby.

For the lawless, the Big Thicket offered the best natural hiding place in Texas. Wanda Landrey tells the tales of various outlaws and their deeds from extensive research and first hand accounts. The Sapp murders, the Kaiser Burnout and the escapades of "Red" Goleman are all covered, along with the boomtowns where riches were made and lost. In no way is this book a complete history of the outlaws and crimes of the area, but many stories are told that otherwise would have faded into the past.