Mohammed Muda Nor has worked all morning tapping rubber. Upon his return home, his nephew leads him to his sister, Norliza, who has discovered gold in the river. Overjoyed, he takes the piece from her and digs nearby for days on end. Despite his best efforts to mislead them, the rest of the villagers find out where it comes from and begin to dig as well. Muda is poor. This did not bother him in youth, but his rubber job has exposed him to wealth, first through the bike it allowed him to buy, and then via the fancy cars that the plantations owners drive. After he marries, his drive begins to evaporate almost as fast as his children arrive, which means that he works more, has less money, and is more miserable doing it. His wife, Khamina, disapproves of his gold search, and she eventually has to send the children to her parents and take over his rubber job. Even as his luck evaporates, Muda's obsession builds. He often sleeps at the mosque instead of at home. One day, he discovers a tiny gold kris in the mud, a ten-centimeter Malay sword with a Qu'ranic inscription. Later, another village comes with permits to dig along the riverbank, and he uses his kris to pacify them. That same day, he saves one of his nieces from drowning in the river, and he takes weeks to recover from the resulting illness. Afterward, he quits the hunt for gold but becomes fanatically religious. One day, however, the village elder and the plantation owner tell him that they must take his kris. It is a relic with an established story, they say, and belongs in a museum. He assents, as he knows that he has no choice, but for all his dignity in doing so, the light goes out of his eyes. He is defeated.