When a precious jade stone is discovered in an old outhouse, the owner of said outhouse and the surrounding buildings suddenly finds himself with the financial clout to withstand the buy-out pressure of an unethical developer who wishes to build a large building on his plot. The owner, intending to display the stone to the public, puts his dedicated chief of security in charge of keeping it safe. But with the stakes running high, this is easier said than done. The developer hires a high-tech cat burglar from Hong Kong to steal the stone, the owner's wayward son sees the jewel as the perfect symbol of wealth and hatches a plan to use it to increase his chances at getting laid, and a gang of three con-men who hear about the jewel see it as their ticket to the big time. These three groups find themselves in direct competition and, finding their attempts foiled as often by the security guard as by each other, become more and more desperate as the film progresses.

The film documents "noodling", the practice of wading in murky water and reaching into dark holes in the attempt to catch a catfish, a dangerous practice that often causes noodlers to lose fingers and toes. The method is hundreds of years old, and the documentary also examines the subculture surrounding handfishing, The film depicts noodling as believed to have originated with white settlers, with at least one reference dating from 1775. Most evidence suggests that Native Americans typically only fished using tools such as spears and cages.