Plot
Anita, the former maid of the Jansen family, narrates the events of the summer of 1969 when Ward Jansen, an idealistic reporter, returned to his hometown of Lately, Florida, to investigate the events surrounding the 1965 murder of a violent local sheriff. Convicted for this murder was a man named Hillary Van Wetter, a swamp-dwelling alligator hunter and small-time criminal, placed on death row for the murder. Ward and his colleague, Englishman Yardley Acheman, investigative reporters with The Miami Times , plan to help exonerate him. Some evidence against Van Wetter was "lost", which Ward and Yardley plan to expose as redneck injustice.
Alabamian Charlotte Bless had fallen in love with Van Wetter, though they had not met, while only exchanging correspondence. She arrives in Lately, determined to prove his innocence as well so they could marry. Charlotte requests the help of Ward and Yardley who then hire Jack, Ward's younger brother, as their driver. Jack falls quickly in love with Charlotte, who wants Jack to remain her friend, and feels she loves Van Wetter.
Ward has mixed feelings about returning home to his estranged father, W.W., who runs Lately's local newspaper. The brothers dislike their divorced father's newest girlfriend, Ellen. Jack works as a paperboy for his father's business after having been expelled from college, which ended his collegiate swimming career. The only person Jack considers a friend is Anita, who helped Ward raise him after Jack and Ward’s mother left.
Charlotte is very open with Jack that she has sex with many men, once stating to him “(having sex) with a man is the most natural thing in the world,” yet refusing to do it with Jack, so as to not ruin their “friendship”. Jack, saddened throughout the film by this truth, walks toward the water while Charlotte lies on the shore. While swimming, Jack is stung by a jellyfish in multiple places, and crawls slowly toward shore, appearing to be dying. Two women see him struggling, come to him, saying he must be having an allergic reaction, and one prepares to urinate on the wounds, knowing this is the only way to save him. Charlotte sees the woman standing above Jack about to urinate on him and begins screaming at her, insisting that if anyone urinates on Jack it should be Charlotte. Charlotte then urinates on all of Jack’s wounds, thereby saving his life.
When they return they find Yardley has published an article in the newspaper about the incident regarding Charlotte urinating on Jack’s wounds. Jack appears livid and attacks Yardley, and during their fight calls Yardley a “n****r,” which he later sees upset Anita as well. This altercation is the beginning of bad blood between Yardley and Jack.
Van Wetter is initially hostile to the reporters. Contrary to the romantic portrayal he had painted of himself in his letters to Charlotte, he reveals himself to be racist, sexist, and crude. After Van Wetter tells them his alibi, the Jansens travel to meet Van Wetter's Uncle Tyree. Tyree, who lives in disturbing and unsanitary conditions in the swamp, surrounded by the bodies of dead animals, is initially reluctant to admit his own crime to save his nephew's life, but finally admits that they were away the night of the murder, stealing sod from a golf course in Ormond Beach. The exchange ends in conflict, Tyree and another family member threatening violence, and the Jansen brothers leaving quickly thereafter.
Yardley and Charlotte visit the golf course to verify the story. Yardley claims to have found the developer who bought the stolen sod, saying that the man requested anonymity, so refuses to disclose his name, even to Ward. Yardley goes back to Miami to start writing the article, but not before Jack sees Yardley appear flirtatious with Charlotte, prompting Jack to ask her later if she slept with Yardley. Charlotte admits she did, but treats it as another minor sexual occurrence, while regarding their friendship as a pillar in her life. As it begins to rain, she invites Jack to dance with her where they are, on the lawn, with Jack in only his underwear, during which they both appear deeply joyous.
Jack later- again- proclaims his love to Charlotte, giving her his mother’s ring, but Charlotte says “lemme know when you want it back,” and infers she is waiting for Van Wetter.
Suspicious of Yardley's motives, Ward decides to check Ormond Beach himself, with Jack and Charlotte in tow. On the way Ward gets drunk at a bar and approaches a black man. During the night, Charlotte and Jack hear alarming sounds and run from their rooms. Jack sees Ward tied up through a hotel window and see the man Ward had evidently left the bar with, then several other men in the room, who had gruesomely beaten Ward who was hog tied naked on a large piece of plastic, which was covered in Ward’s blood. Most of the men run out of the room, but Jack grabs one and beats him, then falls to Ward’s body, holds him closely, and cries. Ward is brought to the hospital.
Shortly after Ward’s beating, Jack spends time with Charlotte again, during which she reminds Jack often that she is not the right one for him. Jack remains unable to escape what he believes is true love for Charlotte, and one night she looks into Jack’s longing eyes and says, “okay, but just this once.” Jack immediately removes his clothing and looks extremely happy as the two begin to kiss. Anita narrates the scene as they begin to make love, and ends the scene quickly, so the details of the sexual encounter remain mysterious.
Jack goes to Miami, hoping to convince Yardley not to publish the unproven "facts" with Ward’s name as co-reporter, but there is clear rivalry between the two that will not allow for any negotiation. During this confrontation, Yardley reveals he is an American born man pretending to be English to escape discrimination, suddenly speaking without an accent and stating “you have to be James Bond to get a job in this town”. Yardley additionally reveals to Jack that while Yardley was intoxicated, he once let Ward perform fellatio on him. Jack, however, does not resent Ward for being homosexual; he feels only disappointed that Ward felt he needed to keep it a secret from Jack for so long.
The article is published and Yardley leaves for New York with a book deal. Van Wetter obtains a pardon and locates Charlotte, who is then living elsewhere, and sees clearly she no longer wants him, but her candid disinterest does not deter him. Van Wetter forces himself onto Charlotte many times during the scene, with Charlotte initially trying to fight him off, but gradually seeing she cannot stop him. He tells her she will go with him to live “in the swamp”; she says she does not want to live in a swamp, but Van Wetter insists she will be fine. Charlotte appears to concede only out of fear and inability to fight Van Wetter any longer. Months later, Charlotte lives unhappily with Van Wetter’s abusive behavior and sends a letter to Jack telling him she made a mistake and would like to reunite with Jack at his father's wedding. Jack does not receive the letter until the wedding reception, smuggled to him by Anita, who was fired from the Jansen household and knew Ellen did not intend to pass the letter to Jack.
The day of the wedding, Jack sees Charlotte is not there, and strongly suspects it is because Van Wetter refused to allow her to go. Jack, joined by Ward, who has revealed that the anonymous developer does not exist, undercutting Van Wetter's alibi. Jack and Ward find that Van Wetter has killed Charlotte rather than let her attend the wedding. A fight ensues and Van Wetter slices Ward’s throat with a machete as Jack watches, unable to stop his brother’s death. As the sun sets, Van Wetter then targets Jack who quickly runs away, dodging through the forest, and dives into the swamp. Van Wetter walks back to the cabin and reappears with a small motorboat, in which he carefully searches for Jack with a flashlight in hand. Jack appears to swim and hide with some ease, while Jack seems to have flashbacks of relaxing swims he once had during his time on the college team. Jack treads near-silently right beside Van Wetter’s boat, careful to remain on the opposite side of where Van Wetter searches. The boat’s engine dies and Van Wetter is next seen approaching his cabin, looks toward the porch, then enters the kitchen area, where he had killed Charlotte. Van Wetter appears alone, scared, and contemplative, and then Jack is seen driving away in the motorboat, towing the bodies of Ward and Charlotte, presumably back home.
Anita concludes her narration of the events in Jack’s life by recounting that Van Wetter was convicted for the murders of Ward and Charlotte and sent to the electric chair; she states Jack reunited with his mother at Ward's funeral; and she states Jack would never get over his “first love”.
