Last of the Mobile Hot Shots

Myrtle Kane and Jeb Stuart Thorington appear as contestants on The Rube Benedict Show in New Orleans and win the competition despite not knowing each other. They agree to claim the $3,500 prize only if their marriage is ordained by a minister on set. They plan to use the prize to help restore the decaying Waverley Plantation, tying their on-screen wedding to a real estate mission.

Using the prize, the couple travels to Waverley Plantation, located about 100 miles upstream from New Orleans. Jeb introduces Myrtle to his multiracial half-brother, Chicken, a man nicknamed for hoarding chickens on the rooftop. Myrtle shares her background as the last surviving member of an Alabama quintet, the Mobile Hot-Shots.

Tensions flare as Jeb asserts his control over the mansion while Chicken claims that he will inherit it as next of kin. The argument underscores a power struggle over the estate and its future. The mansion sits at the center of a family feud that will color every later decision.

In a flashback, Jeb reveals he was discharged from the Army and had a tense history with Chicken over the property. He orders Chicken off the mansion, but Chicken later returns and signs an agreement that would make him the next owner. The past animosity foreshadows the present power dynamics.

During preparations for dinner, Myrtle is pressed to kill Chicken with a hammer and to return upstairs with the required document. She struggles to obtain the agreement from Chicken, highlighting the coercive and dangerous atmosphere on the estate. The command marks a grim turning point in the couple's arrangement.

Myrtle returns downstairs after a tense moment and admits to not having married Jeb, shocking Chicken. He refuses to believe the truth and demands that Myrtle produce her marriage license. The revelation intensifies the split between Myrtle and Jeb's plan and Chicken's claim.

Myrtle eventually produces the marriage license, presenting it to Chicken downstairs. Jeb reacts with fury for not retrieving the agreement, revealing the fragility of the couple's leverage. The tension between the characters thickens as loyalties fracture.

Following the license reveal, Myrtle enters into an extramarital affair with Chicken. The betrayal strains the household and deepens the web of deception surrounding the mansion and its ownership. Meanwhile, Jeb reels from the ongoing turmoil and his mounting secrets.

Jeb, fueled by anger over Myrtle's absence with the document, descends with a pistol and burns the signed agreement. The act destroys the plan to crown Chicken as heir and signals the collapse of Jeb's control. The mansion becomes a crucible of rage, jealousy, and power.

Chicken discloses that he is the plantation's rightful heir through his mother, not through an interracial extramarital affair. Jeb collapses upon hearing the truth and dies, ending his former ambitions. The revelation shifts the estate's future away from Jeb's control.

As floodwaters surge, Chicken and Myrtle climb to the mansion's rooftop to escape. The rooftop serves as a final refuge where they confront their complicated relationship and seek sexual fulfillment amid disaster. The ending ties together themes of inheritance, power, and survival.