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 they seek. The trio make their way to the house of Wash, Pete's cousin, who breaks off their shackles and feeds them. They sleep in the barn, but Wash reports them to Sheriff Cooley, who, along with his men, torches the barn. Wash's son helps them escape. The next day, Pete and Delmar get baptized in a river, but Everett refuses to join them.
They pick up Tommy Johnson, a young black man who claims he sold his soul to the devil 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 part ways with Tommy after their car is discovered by the police, and they briefly fall in with outlaw George Baby Face Nelson whose been robbing and killing cows. Unbeknownst to them, the recording becomes a major hit. George, feeling depressed, gave the trio his cash and walked 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 them and kills the frog.
Spoken languages: English
Subtitles: Danish,Swedish,Norwegian,Finnish
