A riparian landowner is suing a fisherman for trespassing on a southwestern Virginia river that is considered to be public. The fisherman claims that it is his right to wade and fish in the Jackson River since the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries openly advertises the river as one of the best public trout streams in Virginia. The landowners claim that they own the river bottom because they pay taxes on the bottom of the river and because they have a pre-1776 land grant from King George II that says that they can claim ownership of the river. This film explores the laws behind the Jackson River and documents both sides of the argument while the landowners and the fisherman are dead-locked in the ongoing civil suit. The fate of the river is in the hands of a single court decision, which could establish a precedent for a serious environmental impact on the Jackson River and many other public Virginia fishing streams that, depending on the outcome, could be subject to the same legal issues.