The story begins with the words "the grandfather said" and the grandfather starts to talk about a man from his past called Boon Hogganbeck. He worked for his grandfather and in the first chapter he talks about how Boon got angry with one of the black workers and stole a gun to go after him to shoot him. When Lucius, he is the one telling the story, and his grandfather got to the town's square they've been informed that Boon did use the gun but the only thing he managed to do is damage the local's store window and scratch a girl's thigh with the bullet.
The second chapter is about the first car coming to Jefferson in Yoknapatawpha County. With the help of dismantling the car and putting it back together, the local mechanic Mr. Buffaloe built one of his own. Lucius's grandfather bought the car and Boon took care of it like a baby and was in charge of driving it.
Lucius's other grandfather died and his entire family left for the funeral. Boon used this opportunity to "borrow" the car to travel to Memphis and he brought Lucius along with him. Important thing to mention is that Lucius was eleven at the time. Ned, Lucius's mother's black cousin, sneaked into the car and the trio started their journey. On their road they had to go through Hell Creek. It is a mudded path and they had to pay a man with mules to pull the car out and get them through.
They soon arrived to Memphis and Lucius is stunned how different it is from the country side. They got to the boarding house owned by Miss Reba. Ned leaves them in front of the house and Boon and Lucius go in. This is the reason of Boon's travelling; he came to see a prostitute named Corrie. Lucius is mesmerized by a black girl named Minnie and a gold tooth in her mouth.
They have dinner and get acquainted with the people present. Mr. Binford is Miss Reba's partner and a chauvinist who relies on Miss Reba. Otis is a boy around Lucius's age and Lucius feels a creepy vibe from him. After some time Ned arrives with a horse to the boarding house. He swapped the car for a horse.
Boon is baffled and angry but Ned justifies it by providing a plan to get the car back and keep the horse as well. There is a horse race at Parsham and the man he traded the car with will be there to bet. Along the way Ned hints that the horse is stolen as well so they have to transport it to Parsham secretly. Miss Corrie calls Sam, one of her friends who works as a conductor, to help them. They load the horse into the car and Ned stays the night with it. That night Lucius and Otis get into a fight because Otis told him he used to charge people to look at Miss Corrie in her disgrace and he tells him that Miss Corrie's real name is Everbee.
The next day Ned and Lucius arrive at Uncle Parsham's. Boon and Miss Corrie soon follow along with the local sheriff Butch. Ned tries to convince Otis to ride the horse during the race but he refuse so Lucius is the one who has to ride it, even with an injured hand from his fight with Otis. The horse is a type of a horse that can't run a horse race, but Ned has something that makes it run.
The word is already out in Parsham about the horse race and the people are betting. Miss Reba and Minnie soon arrive to Parsham and the reason is that Otis stole Minnie's gold tooth. As expected, the boy is nowhere to be found.
The day of the horse race arrives and in the middle of it police arrives to arrest Boon and Ned because of the suspicion that the horse is stolen. Lucius goes to Uncle Parsham's house.
The next morning Ned arrives at Uncle Parsham's house and tells Lucius that the horse race still stands and will be repeated that day. Uncle Parsham scolds Ned to tell the boy the truth about what happened to Boon. Ned tells him that Boon hit Miss Corrie and that he will stay in prison. Lucius is in disbelief and filled with anger goes to visit Boon. In his weak childish rage Lucius attacks Boon because he failed him.
The race is repeated that day and Lucius and the horse win the race. In the midst of his celebration Lucius sees his grandfather. Miss Reba and Minnie are there too and Minnie shows him that her gold tooth is back in its place.
Grandfather, Lucius and Ned go to Colonel Linscomb's place. The owner of the horse is there too. Grandfather first asks Ned how he made the horse run and Ned tells him in private that he gave it sardines. Then Ned tells the story of what happened and how they ended up there. Ned's cousin Bobo left his job and got into gambling which made him have a huge dept. As his last resort he stole his boss's horse in effort to sell it. On the night Boon, Lucius and Ned arrived to Memphis Ned met Bobo and decided to trade the car for that horse. Bobo sold the car and Ned and rest ended up at Parsham.
The owner of the horse and grandfather make a bet for the secret on how to make the horse run. The next day Lucius rides the horse once again, but this time he loses and Ned's secret is safe.
Lucius finally returns home but is troubled with having to live with all the knowledge he gained the past few days. His grandfather gives him words of encouragement.
The story ends with Lucius visiting Miss Corrie and meeting her and Boon's child. Miss Corrie gave the boy the name Lucius Priest Hogganbert.
