Une fable humaniste tragique, en résonance avec les questions sociales d'aujourd'hui.

Alabama, 1920: Roscoe T. Martin is fascinated by the force, vaster than anything previously known, that is swiftly spreading with the new century: electricity. He devotes himself to it, making it his trade. A trade he must nevertheless give up when his wife Marie inherits the family plantation. But year after year, the land betrays them. To stave off bankruptcy, Roscoe suddenly hatches a plan to hijack power from the utility company's lines. His scheme works like a charm, until the day when his jerry-rigged wiring costs an Alabama Power employee his life. Jail time, the collapse of his marriage, and the unforgiving land await.