Rube's setting is the Cumberland River in the valley of Middle Tennessee. A seemingly dead baby is rushed to the ice cold waters of the Cumberland River and Rube takes his first breath. A hard beginning for Rube, it doesn't get much better until as an older man he is befriended by two young boys who learn as much from him as he does from them. It is a journey of identity and discovery with the ever-present Cumberland River as the backdrop.