Lystra, North Carolina, is a fictional town full of very real people who survive the attack of Hurricane Hugo and then find their bearings in the aftermath, often in wild and hilarious ways. As the storm builds, interpersonal dramas, grudges and rivalries are dredged up along with the flotsam and the debris. Meanwhile, a small bridge over Buffalo Creek has its own story to tell. Floodmarkers, painted red, track the height of the water from past rainstorms and as the creek level rises higher than ever before, so do the emotions of the townspeople.