Sometime after the abolishment of slavery, a white Louisianan man named Lurie Weber spends most of his days lazing around his hometown. He is exceptionally inert, unable to motivate himself to drain his swamp and grow sugar cane. His peers point out his negative attributes, but he spends most of his day by the river. Weber also fawns over a white girl named Dena, who is married and has children. Like most of his white peers, he is highly racist toward the black people that live in the area. One day, Weber stumbles into a group of men searching for a black man accused of murder. Weber decides to hunt down the man so the community will respect him. Weber captures the man and is prepared to bring him back to town. However, after he talks to the man, he realizes that the man is scared. Weber also learns that the man escaped from prison and had floated down the river on a homemade raft, hoping he'd make it to New Orleans. This story causes Weber to change his heart, and he decides to let the man escape.