Tom Shiftlet, a one-armed carpenter and drifter, walks up the road towards a remote farm. When he arrives, he meets the owners: a mother and daughter who are both named Lucynell Crater. The mother, Mrs. Crater, is old and toothless; the daughter, Lucynell, is deaf, mute, and seems much younger than her age of nearly 30. Shiftlet raises his arms into the shape of a “crooked cross,” remarks on the beauty of the setting sun, and then fixates on an automobile on the property, which Mrs. Crater explains hasn’t run in 15 years.
Mrs. Crater and Shiftlet talk for a while, agreeing that the world is a mostly rotten place. Shiftlet also describes his past work and travels, although he also points out that he might be lying about everything he says. Mrs. Crater offers him food and shelter in exchange for work.
Shiftlet agrees, and he quickly starts fixing up broken things around the farm. He also befriends Lucynell, teaching her to say her first word, “bird.” Although Mrs. Crater at first doubts Shiftlet’s ability to work because of his missing arm, once he demonstrates that he can fix things, she begins scheming to get him to marry Lucynell. Mrs. Crater’s husband has been dead for 15 years, and she longs for a son-in-law to help her on the farm.
Mrs. Crater points out how sweet and innocent Lucynell is, even lying that she’s around 16 to make her seem more attractive. Finally, Shiftlet is able to get the broken car running, with “an expression of serious modesty on his face as if he had just raised the dead.” He later agrees to marry Lucynell at Mrs. Crater’s urging, but only after she agrees to give him money to take Lucynell on a honeymoon.
Shiftlet and Lucynell marry at a courthouse and drive off on their honeymoon. Mrs. Crater says goodbye to her daughter, who she’s never been separated from before, but she expects to see her again in a few days. Shiftlet’s true destination, though, is Mobile. They drive for almost a hundred miles before he stops at a roadside restaurant, buys Lucynell a meal, and abandons her while she naps.
As he continues to drive on alone, he feels a sudden obligation to help others, so he decides to offer a ride to a boy standing on the side of the road. Shiftlet tells the hitchhiker about his mother and how much he regrets leaving her, but the boy jumps out of the car in alarm. In this moment, Shiftlet seems to have a reckoning. His car slows to a crawl, as though he might be considering going back, and he cries out to God to “Break forth and wash the slime from this earth!” There’s a rainstorm gathering overhead, but instead of turning back, he steps on the gas towards Mobile, trying to outrun the storm.
