Judge Atlee, a revered, old, reclusive man in Clanton, Mississippi issues summons for his sons Ray and Forrest to come to their ancestral house in Clanton for discussing his estate, for his will. Ray, the elder son, a forty-odd aged man, teaches law at the University of Virginia. He is reeling from the aftermath of a sudden divorce. Forrest, the other son, is the lesser of the two children of the family. However, the Judge's plans to meet his sons are foiled. Ray arrives at their ancestral home to find his father dead already and is hit by a truth that mysteriously is known to someone other than his own self.
