Earl Pilcher, Jr. runs an equipment renatl business in rural Arkansas. He lives with his extended family, including his wife, kids and parents. When his mother dies, she leaves a letter that says he is not her “natural” son, but that he is the son of a black woman who died in childbirth and left Earl in her care

Earl is compelled to learn more about his roots. He finds out he has a half-brother in Chicago and he sets out to visit him. Finding it difficult to fit in whith his newfound relations, he benefits from the blind matriarch of the family who insists that the family accept him.