In 1957, a long-buried cache of miner's gold (doré) bars are found and hidden by a few people in the high desert town of Sagebrush. It is illegal to possess gold bullion and the small group, many of them enthusiastic poker players at the local hotel, attempt to dispose of the trove via shady contacts. They form a tontine, a survivorship agreement over the next twenty years to share the assets. In 1977, the gold bullion, now legal, is worth millions of dollars. A dead pool is a list of people expected to fail or die. There is no clear distinction between it and a tontine if any participants have bad intentions.