When his elderly father Buzbee runs away, an older man named Hollingsworth puts up a reward for his return, though he is sure he will come back anyway. The two have lived in an isolated barn by the Mississippi swamps for decades after their old town was destroyed by epidemics of yellow fever and malaria. As heirs to the land, they sold most of it to timber companies and now run a decrepit country store that only ever has one customer: a biker named Jesse, who stops by occasionally on his races for a Coke.  After his father disappears, Jesse is Hollingsworth’s only human contact, and he becomes desperate to make their conversations last longer. Jesse is slower and has a worse bike than the other cyclists in his group, which makes him ashamed, but he’s also tired of the constant competition and begins to give into Hollingsworth’s pressure to stay longer on his Coke breaks. One day, he sees Buzbee in the woods holding a giant fish, and proposes that the two catch him and split the reward money. At first he’s not serious about the idea, but Hollingsworth latches onto it and finally convinces him to commit fully to finding his father. Jesse stops biking, begins to put on weight, and buys a go-cart to travel to Hollingsworth’s for lunch every day. The older man disgusts him with his constant need for conversation, but he is drawn back anyways. Meanwhile, Buzbee is living in the swamp where the old town destroyed by yellow fever used to be. There he creates a camp and survives by killing alligators and fish, and stealing chickens. Many of the women living in town are in abusive relationships with their husbands, and he manages to convince some of them to come live with him in the woods. They love the freedom and escape from pain of his lifestyle, and soon more come, embracing living naked among nature. Eventually some of them even sleep with Buzbee as well. When Hollingsworth and Jesse come into the woods hunting for him, they all run further into the swamp to evade capture.  The two men grow frustrated with their lack of success after trying multiple traps, even digging holes in the ground in hopes that some of the women may fall in. At the same time, one of the women contracts the yellow fever, and the camp cares for her and tries to feed her berries that supposedly stave off the illness. Finally, Hollingsworth comes up with the idea to hunt them down with hounds, and they successfully capture Buzbee. Jesse buys a nicer bike with the reward money and gets back in shape. He is now faster and never speaks with Hollingsworth anymore even though he feels bad for his part in capturing Buzbee. Hollingsworth chains his father to their porch and torments him with constant chatter, while Buzbee dreams of escape and returning to his commune of women and freedom in the swamp.