A Young Bureaucrat For The Tennessee Valley Authority Goes To Rural Tennessee To Oversee The Building Of A Dam. He Encounters Opposition From The Local People, In Particular A Farmer Who Objects To His Employment (with Pay) Of Local Black Laborers. Much Of The Plot Revolves Around The Eviction Of A Stubborn Octogenarian From Her Home On An Island In The River, And The Young Man’s Love Affair With That Woman’s Widowed Granddaughter.