Johnny and Linc plan to meet Mr. Webb and the Jennisons at the plantation but Linc becomes deathly ill.
Mr. Webb calls the Jennisons to tell them Johnny has been found. And the Jennisons travel on the train to Savannah to meet Mr. Webb.
Having been threatened by Bobby Scagg, Linc and Johnny worry about what Scagg will do. Johnny starts to teach Linc to read. Bobby Scagg comes in the night to burn down Linc’s little house. Johnny and Linc plan to contact Mr. Webb, Linc’s employer.
Will kill’s a rattlesnake and, by mistake, scares Jenny May with it. Then he finds his mother, Ali Jennison, crying and learns about a sadness in her past.
After discovering an attempted break in at the Webb plantation, where Linc is the caretaker, Linc and Johnny spend the night at the plantation and have a confrontation with Bobby Scagg.
We meet Will’s extended family and, at a family gathering, hear some family stories.
We see Johnny’s life in the swamp and Linc shows him Lost Lake. Linc has a nightmare about his father being killed and tells Johnny about his past. This brings the two of them closer.
We see Will’s life in the country, meet his best friend, Butch Jenkins and Will and Butch get up to mischief.
Johnny meets Linc’s dog, Hooter, and a huge alligator known as The Garbage Man. Johnny and Linc start their lives together in the Blackwater Swamp.
Will and his father, Frank Jennison, travel to Tennessee in search of Johnny. They meet Aunt Min and Sarah and discover Johnny has run away.
Johnny meets Linc and is taken to his little house deep in the Blackwater Swamp.
We see how Will lives in his home in the country, outside of Birmingham, Alabama.
Sarah gets fired and Johnny hops a freight train to run away. His car is cut out of the train and left by the Blackwater Swamp.
Will finds out he has a twin and he and his parents, the Jennisons, decide to try to find him.
Johnny sneaks out to watch the steam engine on the Birmingham train take on water, and the twins see each other. Johnny is mistreated by Aunt Min and helped by Sara who lets him know that he has a twin.