In Old Man, Arliss Howard plays J. J. Taylor, a bank robber who has served eleven years of a twenty-year sentence in a Mississippi prison. He's a cautious and slow speaking man who has a special relationship with John Henry, a mule used in field work.
During a catastrophic flood in 1927 which creates thousands of refugees, he is dispatched with another prisoner to save a pregnant woman in a tree and a man on a roof. Although J.J.'s partner falls off the boat, he eventually rescues Addie (Jeanne Tripplehorn). Fighting against the powerful waters of the Mississippi, they are unable to reach the man on the roof.
Addie, who was recently deserted by her husband, gives birth on a spit of land to a baby boy. She's quite amazed by J.J.'s nurturing instincts. Together, they experience adventures down the river in Bayou country where they spend some time with a French alligator hunter who lives in the swamps.
Horton Foote's evocative screenplay adapted from a short story by William Faulkner conveys the surprising ways love and human goodness sneak up upon us and leave us filled with gratitude.