The story begins in fictional St. Petersburg, Missouri, on the shore of the Mississippi. Huckleberry "Huck" Finn and his friend, Tom Sawyer, have each come into a considerable sum of money as a result of their earlier adventures. Huck is placed under the guardianship of the Widow Douglas, who, together with her stringent sister, Miss Watson, are attempting to "sivilize" him and teach him religion. Finding civilized life confining, his spirits are raised somewhat when Tom Sawyer helps him to escape one night past Miss Watson's slave Jim, to meet up with Tom's gang of self-proclaimed "robbers." Just as the gang's activities begin to bore Huck, he is suddenly interrupted by the reappearance of his shiftless father, "Pap"...