Five decades ago, Jesse's great-aunt disappeared on the family's farmland. She was found naked by a tree in a gorge. When the great-aunt later died, family members began to avoid the gorge where she was found, and Jesse's father decided not to return to harvest the ginseng he had planted there. Jesse's family soon sold their land to the Park Service.

Two years before the present day, Jesse, now a sixty-eight-year-old man, returns to harvest his father's ginseng, which has flourished in everyone's absence, and replant more seeds. He is discovered by a man from the Park Service, who tells Jesse that he will get jail time for trespassing and carrying a firearm. Jessie tries to defend himself but pushes the man into a well when he refuses to let Jesse go. Jesse runs as other Park Service rangers approach.

While on the run, Jesse throws his pistol into the woods to avoid being caught. He ultimately decides not to go home. He knows his boot prints lead from his house to the ginseng patch. He stays in the woods and waits.