Al Pennyback travels to East Texas to help a cousin who has received an offer to buy some of his land. There are two problems: the land is worthless despite the buyer offering a hundred thousand dollars for it, and his neighbor strongly objects to him selling it--for reasons he can't determine. The more Al learns about the two situations, the more confused he becomes. The more he pries into it, the more he antagonizes someone who just might kill him to stop him from learning the truth.