Ji-Stu, the Cherokee trickster rabbit, wakes early one morning and decides to visit his old friend Otter, who lives up the river. Along the way, he sees a huge wood duck sitting on the water and instantly recognizes the Chief of All the Wood Ducks, who is surrounded by hundreds of smaller ducks. Ji-Stu hurries to tell Otter, but when they return the great Chief is gone. Otter, who did not believe Ji-Stu's story in the first place, slips into the water...