Bayou.

Martin Davis, an insecure, young architect, comes to New Orleans from the North to compete against a local man for the job of designing a new civic auditorium. He meets Marie, a sensual Cajun girl of 17, who works as a crabber in the bayou. Marie has aroused the lustful instincts of the local storekeeper, Ulysses, a sadistic, illiterate bully, who has attempted to rape her. Martin and Marie find themselves falling in love and Martin arranges to stay longer in the area in order to court her.