O.E. Parker is an ex-Navy man from Alabama who is obsessed with tattoos. He became obsessed with them after he saw a man at a fair covered in art. Parker places tattoos all over the front of his body to provide himself with temporary fulfillment. Parker does not care what the tattoo is a picture of as long as it is colorful and action-packed. One day, Parker's truck breaks down, and he gets out to look under the hood when a woman starts beating him with a broom. He notices her looking at his tattoos, so he starts talking about them. The woman responds that she does not like tattoos because they are sinful. The woman walks away and Parker feels himself attracted to her, though she is poor and ugly. The next day, Parker returns with a bushel of apples for the woman. He had been making a living recently selling the bushels. He gives one to each of the children running around the yard, who are the woman's brothers and sisters. She also takes an apple, and the woman's mother gladly accepts the bushel. The woman asks Parker what his name is, and he tells her O.E. Parker. She asks what it stands for, and he will not tell. The woman says she will not say her name unless Parker says what O.E. stands for. He whispers that his name is Obadiah Elihue, and she says her name is Sarah Ruth Cates. Parker continues visiting the Sarah Ruth, and the two get married, even though Parker still thinks she is ugly and does not understand her evangelism. Not long after, Sarah Ruth becomes pregnant, and Parker becomes disillusioned with his boring wife, who will not even look at his tattoos. Parker begins working for an old woman as a farmhand. He decides he wants another tattoo and thinks he will get a religious one so that Sarah Ruth will look at it, though he does not know of what and does not believe in God himself. One day, when he is riding a tractor for work, Parker crashes into a tree and the tractor bursts into flames. In that moment, Parker decides he must get his tattoo immediately. He goes to an artist and picks out a picture of Byzantine Jesus to take up the whole of his previously un-tattooed back. The work takes two days, and Parker returns home excited to show Sarah Ruth. When he does, Sarah Ruth looks at the tattoo and says she does not know who that is supposed to be. Parker says it is Christ, but Sarah Ruth says God does not have a face. Sarah Ruth screams at Parker that he is idolatrous and beats him with a broom. Parker responds by crying like a baby.