In antebellum Hannibal, Missouri, a slave named Jim kisses his wife goodbye and heads out to look for his young friend, Huckleberry Finn. Finding the orphan fishing, Jim warns Huckleberry that the spinster sisters who are trying to civilize him are expecting him home for supper. In the dinning room, the sisters question Huckleberry about Sunday school as Jim waits the table. The elder sister, Widder Douglas, tells Huckleberry that they are helping him join society because the treasure he discovered, which is held in a trust, will make him a rich man one day. When Miss Watson adds that Huckleberry should not grow up to be like his alcoholic father, who drowned, Huckleberry comments that Pap may still be alive. Excusing himself to go to his room, Huckleberry finds Pap waiting. Angry that Huckleberry has not shared his fortune, the drunk shoves his son, but the sisters come to the boy’s defense. As Pap takes Huckleberry away, he demands $1000 ransom for the boy’s return and suggests that the sisters sell Jim to raise the money. Jim overhears the argument and rushes home to tell his wife that he is running away to Cairo, Illinois, the closest town in a free state. As he leaves, Jim promises that their family will be reunited one day. Meanwhile, Pap locks Huckleberry inside his cabin and vows to acquire his son’s cash, but when he returns from Hannibal empty-handed, he finds Huckleberry missing and assumes the boy has been murdered. Huckleberry, who smeared pig blood in the cabin to stage his death, escapes to an island and is bitten by a poisonous snake. Several days later, Jim revives the boy and reports that boats have been searching for his body. When Huckleberry explains the hoax he played on his father, Jim tells him that he ran away and the two fugitives board Jim’s raft for a journey to freedom. As they float down the Mississippi River, Huck spots a houseboat, but when Jim boards it to steal food, he sees Pap dead. Returning to the raft, Jim does not tell Huckleberry that the dead man is his father. Sometime later, Jim announces they are lost and Huckleberry, who disguises himself in girls’ clothing, knocks on the door of a pistol-bearing local, Mrs. Loftus. The woman takes pity on the lost child and Huckleberry learns that he and Jim have landed in St. Petersburg, Missouri, thirty miles south of their desired stopover, Goshen, Illinois. Mrs. Loftus warns that the escaped slave who murdered Huckleberry Finn is on the loose and there is an $800 reward for his capture, but she realizes her companion is hiding his true identity. After promising not to turn Huckleberry in, Mrs. Loftus directs him to town and cautions him to avoid the neighboring plantation. However, Huckleberry is chased by the estate’s owner, Colonel Saul Grangerford, and when Huckleberry claims he fell overboard on a steamboat, the Colonel invites him to stay at Grangerford Manor. As Huckleberry takes his first indoor bath, a black youngster named Buck introduces himself as Huckleberry’s “personal manservant.” At breakfast the next morning with the Colonel’s large family, Huckleberry says he must leave, but he is distracted by the Colonel’s beautiful daughters, Miss Charlotte and Miss Emmeline. Later, at a ball, Miss Charlotte is missing and her brother, Jason, runs inside to announce that she has eloped with a member of the Shepherdson family. When the Colonel declares war, Jason says that the Shepherdsons have the plantation surrounded and a gunfight ensues. As the Colonel tells Huckleberry that he does not remember what provoked animosity between the two families generations ago, he is shot dead. Buck guides Huckleberry back to the river, where he reunites with Jim. As they float past Goshen, Jim expresses concern that he has been labeled a murderer, but Huckleberry says he cannot return to Hannibal to tell the truth for fear of his father and they must stick together. When Jim spots a boat of slave hunters and hides, Huckleberry outwits the men by implying that his smallpox-afflicted father is aboard the raft. The next day, Huckleberry and Jim come across The King and The Duke of Bilgewater, two charlatans pretending to be royalty who are thrown off a steamboat for their escapades. As the men feign tears for being unfairly demoted in their stature, Huckleberry welcomes them aboard the raft. Although The King suspects Jim of being a runaway slave, Huckleberry concocts a story to prove Jim is free. Sometime later, Jim suggests that the men pretend he is their slave so their statuses are no longer questioned. The King, however, decides they should travel in the guise of the Royal Shakespeare Touring Company so they can pilfer money with a performance of “The Royal Nonesuch.” When The King advertises the show as inappropriate for women and children, a crowd of men eagerly attend. After an impromptu introduction by The King, the men escape town with the box-office receipts while the audience waits for the show to begin. As they move to another town to repeat the ploy, Jim tells Huckleberry that it is unethical, but Huckleberry points out that they are only a few days away from Cairo. Meanwhile, at a bar, The King is mistaken for Reverend Wilks, the English brother of a wealthy townsman who has recently died, and the King orchestrates another hoax to obtain the inheritance. Leaving Jim with the raft, The King returns to town dressed as a minister with Huckleberry and The Duke, who pretends to be deaf and mute. At the home of Maryjane and Susan Wilks, The King and The Duke are received as uncles and as they attend the elder Wilks’s wake, The King leads the townspeople in an improvised hymn. At dinner, the sisters give The King their father’s will that reveals gold hidden underneath the house. Rushing away with The Duke to retrieve it, The King claims they will keep the inheritance safe for the sisters. Later, Maryjane brings a blanket to Huckleberry’s bed and admits that she feels fondness for him. Climbing through the window of The King and The Duke’s room, Huckleberry retrieves the gold. In the morning, The King is outraged to discover the gold missing and when he goes for the sheriff, Huckleberry returns to the Wilks house to tell the sisters about The King’s true intentions. Later, The King attempts to auction the sister’s belongings, claiming that the proceeds will provide their dowry, but Huckleberry secretly lights The Duke’s foot on fire. As he screams, the townspeople realize The Duke’s claim of being a deaf mute is a hoax. The King attempts to depict the incident as a miracle, but the real Reverend Wilks arrives and the charlatans are taken to jail. Later, Huckleberry tells Maryjane that the gold is hidden in her father’s coffin and, after she kisses him goodbye, he returns to the raft and finds Jim missing. Coming upon a chain gang of captured slaves, Huckleberry sees Jim tied to a post and throws him a knife. As the guards watch a passing barge, Jim cuts himself free and escapes with Huckleberry. After trudging through a swamp, Jim tires and Huckleberry is surprised to discover that he and Jim have the same colored blood. Jim tells Huckleberry that he does not need to continue running away because Pap is dead. Jim confesses that he did not reveal the truth sooner because it would have been impossible to reach freedom without his young friend. When they hear the slave hunters’ dogs in the distance, Huckleberry trades shirts with Jim to throw off the scent. Huckleberry directs Jim to the raft and says that when he reaches Cairo, which is only five miles away, he should send for his wife and child. Huckleberry insists on using his money to pay for their safe passage and they agree to be business partners when Jim opens a shop in Cairo. As they part, Huckleberry watches Jim on the raft, floating toward his new life as a free man.