One Thursday night in Louisiana, Father Ledet is sitting outside behind his rectory, drinking brandy, when he gets a call from a parishioner, Mrs. Arceneaux, asking him to perform the Anointing of the Sick for her husband, Clyde. Father Ledet knows he has drank a bit too much to drive, but he drives over anyway. He crashes his car into Mrs. Mamie Barilleaux in an intersection, and she breaks her arm. Seeing it’s the priest who hit her, she immediately assumes it was her fault, even though she had the right of way. Officer Vic Garafola arrives on the scene, and can see that the accident was the priest’s fault. But when Mrs. Mamie hears why the priest was driving in the first place, she insists that the officer give the priest a ride to the hospital to see Clyde while she waits. He reluctantly agrees, and once in the car notes the smell of alcohol on the priest’s breath. In Clyde’s hospital room, he says he would like a final confession. Clyde has not been a regular churchgoer, but he is certainly a believer. He tells the priest a detailed list of his wrongs, but is hesitant to tell him his last sin, that he stole a car from his brother-in-law, Nelson. The priest absolves him of his sins, and leaves Clyde snoring away peacefully. Outside the hospital room, Vic is waiting for the priest. He takes him back to the station and breathalyzes him, which shows that Father Ledet has a blood alcohol content that is twice the legal limit. He is given a DUI and his license is revoked. Mrs. Arceneaux calls the priest and complains that Clyde wants to tell her brother about the car he stole, and that this is a horrible idea. She has Father Ledet call Clyde and tell him this is unnecessary. Later in the week, Mrs. Arceneaux comes to confession, and tells Father Ledet that Clyde had been keeping Nelson’s car in a storage container, and she would like Father Ledet to drive it back for Nelson. He tells her a firm no. A few days later, Mrs. Mamie comes in and tells him that she and Mrs. Arceneaux are close friends, and the Father needs to do as Mrs. Arceneaux says. Unable to explain his revoked license, he agrees. On the morning he is to return the stolen car, Father Ledet drinks a great deal of alcohol to calm his nerves. He picks the car up from the storage unit, and gets it to Nelson’s neighborhood. However, Vic is on duty, and when he notices the dusty and dated car, he becomes suspicious. He starts tailing the car, and pulls it over to find the father. Vic arrests Father Ledet. Drawn out by his patrol lights, Nelson and his neighbors come out and watch. Following his arrest, Father Ledet is handled coolly by the town. At the first mass he holds after, everyone seems distant from him, but this is all made better by the presence of Clyde, who is nearly dead, but actually attending a church service for the first time in a long time.