In 1961 in a small Kentucky community (Creekside) after a stormy altercation with his father, Ed, a fourteen year old white boy flees his home and finds himself running blindly through driving rain, chased by thunder, lightning and threatening flood water.He is rescued by a garrulous drunk called Riverboat Bill, an ex Marine, who gives him shelter on his shanty boat, but not before Ed is kicked in the head by a dead cow swirling in the raging stream.Fred...