"Ben" (Dana Andrews) is taking part in a manhunt through the swamp to track down long since escapee "Tom Keefer" (Walter Brennan) who has been hiding out there for many a year. His dog spots a deer drinking by the side of the river and jumps off their boat into the Okefenokee after it. Despite the sagacious counsel of his father (Walter Huston), he decides to set off into the undergrowth to try and reunite with his mutt. There he encounters their previous quarry and discovers things might not be so straightforward as he'd previously thought; especially when he returns and meets the fugitive's d...