The story begins as old Lucynell Crater and her daughter, also named Lucynell, see a young man walking up the road leading to their shared home. He is thin, missing an arm, and evidently homeless. He stands in their yard to admire the sunset over the nearby mountain, then offers the women chewing gum and introduces himself by pointing out the unused and neglected car in the nearby garage. He immediately ingratiates himself to the old woman by offering up the disused car as an example of the fallen state of the world, lamenting the attempts of men of science to understand the human condition.

By way of introduction, the name he gives is Tom T. Shiftlet, though he admits that might not be his real name, and he tells the women that he is a carpenter. Shiftlet is the kind of man who likes to have people around so that he can talk at them, with a mixture of philosophy and pablum. It is immediately apparent that he wants something from the Craters, but what it is remains yet unclear. The elder Lucynell, the old woman, is a proud woman and is suspicious of Shiftlet, but she is also intrigued by the thought of having someone else help take care of her daughter. The younger Lucynell is deaf, doesn’t speak, and seems significantly younger than her age. Shiftlet insists that he is not after money, and he tells the women a brief summary of his life story. The old woman asks questions but does not answer many of his. They finish their introductory conversation by considering her daughter, talking around the idea of her mother looking for a man to take care of her. Lucynell offers Shiftlet food in return for carpentry work around the house, and he accepts, even after being told he will have to sleep in the abandoned car.

After a week, Shiftlet has repaired and improved various parts of the house and its surrounding structures, and the old woman hopes that his personal investment in her property will extend to her daughter. The younger Lucynell follows him around, watching him work. He teaches her to say “bird,” her first spoken word, to the best of her ability. The old woman encourages him to teach Lucynell to say “sugarpie” next; both mother and carpenter understand her motivation. Shiftlet inspects the old car and declares that he can get it running, if the old woman can buy the necessary part. Without explicitly saying so, there is an agreement that she will let him fix the car if he will marry her daughter.

After he repairs the car to running condition, the old woman insists that Shiftlet should marry her daughter. Shiftlet points out that he can’t do that because he has no money, and that he wouldn’t feel right marrying someone if he couldn’t materially provide for her. The old woman tells him that he can live in the house with them, since they have all they need and there is no reason for them to leave the property. He says he wants to be able to take his new wife for a weekend honeymoon trip to a hotel and restaurants, arguing that he needs to be able to go where his spirit moves him. She begrudgingly agrees to give him $17.50 for a weekend trip, which he accepts.

Shiftlet and the younger Lucynell are married that Saturday and leave for their honeymoon weekend immediately afterward, to the resigned dismay of her mother. While Shiftlet is excited to have a car to drive, he is still unhappy about his situation. He stops at a roadside diner for lunch and Lucynell falls asleep at the counter. He tells the young man behind the counter that she is a hitchhiker he picked up and pays for her lunch. Shiftlet leaves her there and resumes his driving.

A little while later he sees a boy on the side of the road and picks him up, happy to have some company with whom he can share his thoughts. Shiftlet begins to talk to the boy in the same way he talked to the old woman—a kind of sentimental philosophizing about a boy’s love for his mother. He begins to cry while thinking about his mother and slows the car to a crawl. The boy yells at Shiftlet, telling him that his own mother is a “flea bag” and Shiftlet’s is a “pole cat” before opening the car door and throwing himself and his suitcase into a ditch on the side of the road. Shiftlet is shocked by the boy’s response, takes it as a sign of the rottenness of the world, and drives toward Mobile, racing an oncoming storm.

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