"The time is now and the place is a mountain cave in Death Valley, U.S.A. In just a moment, these four men will utilize the services of a truck placed in cosmoline, loaded with a hot heist cooled off by a century of sleep, and then take a drive into the Twilight Zone."Four thieves rob a bullion train headed to California. They head back to a cave, and use a gas invented by their leader Farwell, and go into suspended animation. One of them is killed by a rock while they're asleep. The rest awake one hundred years later, safe from any police pursuit. DeCruz uses the truck to run over Brooks, but loses control and wrecks it. Farwell and DeCruz must walk through the desert to the nearest town, carrying as much gold as they can. Farwell, the older of the two, quickly tires. He loses his canteen and has to pay DeCruz one gold bar for each sip of water. Then Decruz raises the price to two gold bars, and Farwell kills him with one of the gold bars. Weak and tired, Farwell heads down a highway while carrying the gold he refuses to abandon. Just as he finally collapses, a futuristic car pulls up. He offers his gold in exchange for a ride into town, but it's too late, and he dies - never learning that a way to make gold had been found, making his bullion worthless.
"The last of four Rip Van Winkles who all died precisely the way they lived, chasing an idol across the sand to wind up bleached dry in the hot sun as so much desert flotsam, worthless as the gold bullion they built a shrine to. Tonight's lesson... in the Twilight Zone."