After the deaths of his mother, aunt and uncle, Francis Caldwell Tarwater is taken in by his Uncle Rayber, a pragmatist and teacher at the local college. Rayber and Uncle Mason have a falling out. Mason takes the five-year-old boy to Powderhead, the families' run-down "plantation" vowing to raise him to be a good Christian and a prophet. A Stranger befriends fourteen-year-old Francis and Francis, believing the Stranger's common-sense advice, decides not to obey Mason's request for a christian burial. Francis gets drunk on Uncle Mason's moonshine and burns down the house with Mason dead inside. Hung over, he makes his way to the highway where he's picked up by a traveling salesman. The salesman drives Francis to the city where he meets Rayber's son, Bishop, the nine-year-old son of Rayber and the welfare worker, Beatrice Bishop. Rayber vows to help young Francis become a decent man but, Like the blind leading the blind, Rayber deals with the demons of his own past, never mind care for a special-needs child and enlighten a naive' adolescent who challenges Rayber at every turn. Francis Tarwater is after the truth and if he doesn't get it, he'll do whatever he has to. The Stranger, always close by, reminds Francis of the promise he made to his Uncle Mason. Baiptize Bishop and bring salvation to the family. Rayber decides a vacation is in order and tells the boys he's taking them fishing at the lodge. At the Cherokee Lodge things come to a head when Rayber and Francis take a boat out on the lake and clash over several issues. Early next morning Francis takes a boat-ride with Bishop. Rayber watches from a second floor window. He steps outside and suddenly panics. From the foggy coves of the lake, Bishop screams a blood-curdling scream. Rayber calls to Francis and Bishop. The empty boat drifts out from the shore., wades through the grasses. He finds Bishop's dead body floating in the reeds and wails in agony. He walks, zombie-like to his room and hangs himself. Francis staggers through the woods until he comes out on a highway and is picked up by a well-dressed man with cigarettes and whisky. The Driver offers clove cigarettes to Francis. Francis chokes and stops by drinking the whiskey. Francis passes out. The Driver pulls the car onto a dirt road.
When Francis comes to HE realizes what's happened He lights afire. Hw wanders through the forest an up a hill. He climbs over the ridge and looks down at the house and property he burned down not long ago." It's all yours, the Devia tells him, "It's all yours".