Bobby "Gator" McKlusky is serving time in an Arkansas prison for running moonshine when he learns his younger brother Donny was murdered and that Sheriff J.C. Connors was the one behind it. Gator knows the sheriff is taking money from local moonshiners, so he agrees to go undercover for a federal agency (presumably the Internal Revenue Service or Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) to try to expose the sheriff. His handlers force him onto Dude Watson- a local stock car racer and low-level whiskey runner. Watson has no choice but to cooperate because he himself is on federal probation or parole. To get inside the local moonshine industry Gator gets a job running moonshine with Roy Boone. He also starts an affair with Boone's girlfriend Lou. When the sheriff discovers Gator is working for the Feds, Connors sends his enforcer, Big Bear, to get him. Gator decides to go after the sheriff, leading to an epic car chase finale.