Uncle Pidcock, a farmer in the southern United States, marries Elveeta, who is happy to work on a farm as long as she doesn't work alone. Pidcock promises that he will help, but first he wants to catch some catfish. With his doughball bait, he visits several fishing holes along Sheep River only to come up empty-handed. On the last one, he gets a bite, and hooks a catfish. When it surfaces, he sees that it isn't an ordinary catfish; it's the biggest one he's ever seen. The fish spits out the hook and recedes back into the water. When Uncle Pidcock gets home, he tells Elveeta about the fish, and says that he is determined to catch it. She tells him that she did some plowing. Pidcock promises to help her after he catches the fish, which he expects will only take a day or two. He returns to the fishing hole time and time again, but the fish still doesn't bite. Elveeta manages the farm all on her own through the summer and fall. By the time the river freezes over, there isn't any more work to do on the farm for the year. Pidcock goes over to the fishing hole and pokes holes in the ice to look for the fish. Years pass, and the fish grows bigger. In addition, Pidcock and Elveeta's family grows as well. They have six children, and Elveeta has to build extra rooms onto the house to fit them all inside. After ten years, Pidcock still goes after the catfish. He decides to change up the formula for his doughballs, and uses mushrooms harvested slightly later than normal. This does the trick: after years of attempts, he catches the giant catfish. With the help of Elveeta and a mule, he brings it home and puts it in the mule's feeding trough. People had been asking him what he'd do with the fish once he caught it, but he could never make up his mind. Now that the time had come, none of his options felt quite right. He thinks about it all day, then he calls Elveeta back. He decides to put the catfish back in the river, and figures that if it had taken ten years to catch it, and if the catfish is smarter now after having been caught, then he can spend ten more years trying to catch the fish again.