For herpetologist and lover of rattlesnakes, Charlie Goodwoman, Captain Yellowhenry's six gun style of handling rattlers is an abomination. Yellowhenry feels the same about Goodwoman's style of making pets of the reptiles. The two must forge a truce when Yellowhenry's pre-teenaged son, James, becomes an on the job herpetology aspirant at the Greasewood Serpentarium. Domestic turmoil twists Trooper Joe's marital bliss into a misery of confounding emotions and surprising outcomes.