The narrator, William Bloom, recalls a day near the end of his father, Edward Bloom's, life when they stopped by a river and sat on its shore, under an old tree. Edward takes off his shoes and places his feet in the water. He smiles and says that this reminds him of something. William wonders what it could be, and assumes, based on past experiences, that it's a joke, or an outlandish anecdote from his father's life. However, Edward says simply that it reminds him of "when I was a boy" (2). William looks at his father and says that in that moment, he saw his father as "concurrently young and old" (2).

William begins to retellthe story of Edward's life, as it's been passed down to him from his father. Edward is born in Alabama during the "driest summer in forty years" (5). The drought kills off all the crops and animals. One man takes to eating rocks, which kills him. He ends up weighing so much that ten men must carry him to his grave, and ten more men have to dig his grave because the ground is so dry.