Marsh McAllister, a very poor trapper abandoned by a White father when his Indian mother dies, has sex for the first time with Elizabeth Bois d'Arc, daughter of a family who's wealth goes back to Napoleon's Louisiana. She can have anything a pretty girl wants but has sex in exchange for a golden retriever when she could easily buy a kennel full; risky, risky conduct for a young lady in 1940. She admits it is not her first time. A.J. Greenleaf, Bois d'Arc Estate Manager, separates Marsh and Elizabeth who are meeting secretly as World War II begins. Elizabeth marries a doctor and Marsh marries Dolly Ruth Henderson, daughter of Millicent Henderson who owns The Water Street House, an openly secret brothel. The life of Dan Patch, Indian friend of Marsh, is examined, but there are no blood curdling screams.