At age 43, Reuben Soady is about to become the oldest member of the Soady family to never bag a buck. His Native American wife, Wolf Moon Dance, sympathizes, but everybody in Escanaba knows of his failing. Mothers shield the eyes of small children when he drives by. Men in pickup trucks turn and head in the opposite direction when they see him coming. But none of this dissuades Reuben from traveling once again to the family deer camp the day before hunting season to bond with his superstitious brother Remnar and aggressive father Albert, as well as the legendary hunter Jimmer Negamanee, who has had serious speech problems since being abducted by aliens.