Mud

Ellis and Neckbone, two teenage boys living near DeWitt, Arkansas, are excited to find an abandoned boat lodged in a tree on a small island in the Mississippi River, a remnant of a past flood. However, the boat is already inhabited by a man named Mud, a disheveled but charismatic fugitive whom the boys encounter a short time later. Mud asks for some food, promising them the boat in exchange once he is gone. Returning with food, the boys ask Mud why he is hiding out. Mud reveals he is waiting for his girlfriend Juniper, whom he describes as beautiful, with distinctive nightingale tattoos on her hands.