In a small town in the American South, Charles Mallison hears that an African American man named Lucas Beauchamp has allegedly murdered a white man. More than any other white person in the small town, Charles feels as though he knows Lucas. As he watches the sheriff lead Lucas into the jail, he recalls the first time he met Lucas, when he was 12.

On that day, Charles went out hunting on the suggestion of his father’s friend, Edmonds. Charles was accompanied by an African American boy named Aleck Sander and another unnamed African American boy. As they crossed a creek, Charles slipped and fell. As he dealt with the “shock of the water” (5), Charles fumbled around for his dropped gun and saw “a Negro man with an axe on his shoulder” (6), Lucas Beauchamp. Lucas directed the other boys on how to help Charles from the water and, when Charles emerged dripping wet, the “intractable and composed” Lucas told the three boys to come eat at his house (7). Charles could not imagine contradicting Lucas, so the trio followed the man.

Lucas lived in a small house that, according to legend, had been “deeded” to him by Edmonds’ father.