A disabled boy known as Little Crotchet, supported by a singular bond with his Gray Pony and crutches, rides across a Georgian plantation and becomes entangled with a mysterious blue smoke rising from a treacherous canebrake. Neighbors and hunters investigate swamp secrets, nocturnal signals, odd sightings including a phantom horseman and confrontations with foxes and venomous creatures. The narrative follows preparations, hunts, and escalating tensions among patrollers and townsfolk as supernatural suspicion and natural danger converge, producing pivotal encounters that test loyalty and courage and lead to a tragic resolution for the little master.