Lester Bedford's grandfather, the colonel was anything but a role model for a young man growing up on the Texas prairie. A boozer, a womanizer, a chiseler —- Les idolized him, followed in his footsteps, just as his uncles had done. The colonel pretty much ran the town of Noodle and encouraged his grandson to avail himself of its salacious resources. But one day Les trifled with the wrong woman and he barely escaped Jones County with his life. . . .but not before the woman's other lovers carved an everlasting message into his flesh.
Les fled to Thackerville Oklahoma, far away from his former life. Finding a new job and meeting the right woman gave him a new lease on life. It might even have made him a new man. But years later when Les and his family returned to Jones County he learned that some scars never really heal.