With her baby sister, the girl runs through sludge. She knows she must run through her now-devastated town, or else she will die. She runs past corpses, surfaced from the flooded graveyard, and hears the whispers of her ancestors, who tell her to come back and tether herself to them in the earth. They trip her and nearly consume her, but she gets up, shuts their voices out, and keeps running with her baby sister.

The girl thinks about how the government officials once came into town. Everyone is annoyed at their presence, and they go into the church to tell the news. They say that the government is building a dam that will fill the foothills with water, which means they must leave, with compensation. Everyone swears and mutters among themselves. They think about how the land has been theirs ever since Emancipation, only for it to be taken again now. The girl’s father gets up and asks what will happen if they don’t sell their land, to which he is told that the government can seize property by force regardless of their decision. Everyone argues among themselves about what to do, but many already resign to leaving. However, the ancestors, who imbue the land with magic, fill the girl’s head with ideas. The girl’s mother snaps her out of it and tells her that she must survive.

The girl runs out to the edge of town where the forest is. She sees her mother’s friends, who call her over. She tells them that her mother didn’t make it. Before she can join them, a root grabs her and brings her down. One of her mother’s friends dashes out and receives the girl’s sister from a toss, leaving the girl behind to be taken by her ancestors. Her father suddenly pulls her up and argues with her about what’s right and wrong. He says that using the land’s power for destruction is necessary to defense and retribution, but she says that it comes at the cost of everyone here. Regardless, he takes her back to town, where her ancestors are.

From then on, the girl drowns people who encroach upon her land. She and her ancestors see a small motor boat. She hopes they keep going without incurring her ancestors’ wrath, though they start to stir and scheme. They pulse the surrounding water. The girl protests, but she cannot stop her father’s manifestation as a ghost toward the motor boat’s passengers. One brown-skinned girl is thrown overboard as the boat tips over, and the girl makes her way toward her. She pulls her down into the water and realizes that it’s someone descended from her sister. She pleads with her father to let her live, but he says that her sister abandoned her and must be rejoined with them through death.

The girl, still in control of her body, quickly brings the brown-skinned girl to shore, protesting against her father’s wishes. They barely miss a wave, which brings them farther inland. The father finally pleads with her to stay, wishing not to lose her. The girl moves even farther into land and asks the brown-skinned girl what her name is. Her name is the same the girl’s. Together, they reunite and catch up on how the time has gone.