Set in Louisiana in the forties and fifties it begins with three men and a boy in a delightful little shack in the marsh on the Intercoastal Canal. The shack is a great private retreat from life, women and the worries of the world; a place to drink beer, play poker and tell lies and fishing stories. They are awaiting the arrival of the fourth regular, a brash character who usually rides down the bank of the canal on a bicycle. He doesn't arrive but a most unusual Cajun trapper appears, barges into their shack, extracts some treasure concealed under a roof beam and departs in his pirogue cutting loose their motorboat, their only means of getting back to civilization. A big storm, writhing snakes, loss of power, and the cabin set afire force them out on the bay at night in a fishing dinghy that was stored under the shack. Among the four: a promising artist on sabbatical from his New York studio, a former lawyer, now a used-car salesman who will become a great 'preacher', a small town newspaper editor who will become governor, the boy of misspent youth, who will mature rapidly and excitedly - plus the character who never got there and the mysterious Cajun and his treasure. Good Cajun food is mentioned along with duck hunts and many beautiful, exciting women of amazing backgrounds As well as 'the Senator' a delightful wealthy old romantic enamored with a beautiful model.