In the summer of 1937, three convicts – Pete, Delmar and leader Ulysses Everett McGill – escape from a
chain gang to retrieve a
buried treasure before the area is flooded to make a lake. The three get a lift from a blind man driving a
handcar on a railroad. He tells them they will find a fortune, but not the one that they seek. The trio makes its way to the house of Wash, Pete's cousin, who breaks off their
shackles, feeds them, and allows them to sleep in his
barn. While they are sleeping, Wash reports them to
Sheriff Cooley, who torches the barn with his men. Wash's son helps the trio escape. Pete and Delmar get
baptized in a river the next day, but Everett refuses to join them. The group then picks up Tommy Johnson, a young black man who claims that he
sold his soul to the devil at "The
Crossroads" in exchange for the ability to play the guitar. In need of money, the four stop at a radio station where they record a song as the "Soggy Bottom Boys". That night, the trio parts ways with Tommy after their car is discovered by the police. They then briefly fall in with outlaw
George Baby Face Nelson who has been robbing banks and killing
cows. Unbeknownst to them, the recording becomes a major hit. George, feeling depressed, gives the trio his cash and walks off. Near a river, the group hears singing and finds three sultry women washing clothes. The women give them
corn whiskey and they lose consciousness. Upon waking, Delmar finds Pete's clothes lying next to him, empty except for a
frog. Delmar is convinced the women were
sirens who transformed Pete into the frog. Later, one-eyed
Bible salesman Big Dan invites them for a picnic lunch, then mugs the men and kills the frog. On their way to Everett's hometown, Everett and Delmar see Pete working on a chain gang. They arrive in town where Homer Stokes is hosting a
campaign for governor. Everett confronts his wife Penny, who has changed her last name and told his daughters that he was hit by a train. He gets into a fight with Vernon, her new suitor and Stokes' campaign manager. Later that night, they sneak into Pete's holding cell and free him. The women are revealed to be undercover
bounty hunters who had dragged Pete away and turned him in to the authorities. Under torture, Pete had given away the buried treasure's location to the police. Everett then confesses that he made up the treasure to convince the men he was chained with to escape with him, so that he could stop his wife from getting remarried. Pete is enraged at Everett because he had only two weeks left on his original
sentence, and will likely face fifty more years for the escape. The trio stumble upon a
Ku Klux Klan (KKK) rally, and find that the Klan is planning to
lynch Tommy. The trio disguise themselves as Klansmen and attempt to rescue Tommy. They are stopped by Big Dan, revealed to be a member of the Klan. Chaos ensues, and the
Grand Wizard reveals that he is Homer Stokes. The trio rush Tommy away and cut the supports of a large
burning cross, immolating Big Dan. Everett persuades Pete, Delmar and Tommy to help him win his wife back. They sneak into a Stokes campaign gala dinner that she is attending, disguised as
hillbilly musicians. The group begins a performance of their radio hit, and the crowd recognizes the song and goes wild. Homer recognizes them as the group who sabotaged the KKK rally. When he demands the group be arrested and reveals his
white supremacist views, the crowd
runs him out of town on a rail. Pappy O'Daniel, the incumbent candidate, seizes the opportunity, endorsing the Soggy Bottom Boys and granting them full
pardons. Penny agrees to remarry Everett as long as he finds her original
ring. As this happens, an excited George Nelson is captured and paraded down the street in chains to be
executed. The next morning, the group finds the ring in a cabin, in a valley that Everett had previously claimed was the location of the buried treasure. The deputies, having learned of the location from Pete, arrest the group. Dismissing their claims that they had received pardons, Sheriff Cooley orders their
hanging. As Everett prays to God, the valley is
flooded and they are saved. Tommy finds the ring in a desk that floats by, and they return to town. However, when Everett presents the ring to Penny, she finds out that is actually her aunt's ring. She declares that she will not marry him with that ring, but only her wedding ring. As the film ends, the blind man on the handcar is shown again. ==Cast==