In 1937 Mississippi during the Great Depression, three convicts, Ulysses Everett McGill, Pete Hogwallop, and Delmar O'Donnell, escape from a chain gang and set out to retrieve a supposed treasure Everett buried, before its locale is flooded to make a lake and provide electricity for the state. The three get a lift from a blind man driving a handcar on a railway. He tells them, among other prophecies, that they will find a fortune but not the one they seek. The trio make their way to the house of Wash, Pete's cousin. They sleep in the barn, but Wash reports them to Sheriff Cooley, who, along with his men, torches the barn. After Pete angrily blows up Cooley's police van, Wash's son helps them escape.