Joe Wilmot is a smooth operator. He runs the picture house in Stoneville and he knows how to deal with everyone, from the movie distributors and the union representatives to his projectionist and the punters. But when it comes to handling his wife, his mistress and a bogus insurance claim, it turns out he isn't quite as clever as he thought. An uncompromising and terrifying vision of small-town corruption and the romantic triangle fromt he author of the toughest crime novels ever.