Public Defender Kathy Baker visits the small Florida town of Deep Water to defend a young client being used as a pawn by a politically minded judge. She stumbles onto the town's many peculiarities including a criminally minded backwoods family, an abusive deputy, alligators running rampant, and a crazed environmentalist, all presided over by an eccentric judge, ""Maximum"" Bob Gibbs.

Kathy represents a man being refused a job as a mermaid. Dirk and Bogart Crowe refuse to return their pet manatee to its rightful owner. Kathy represents her estranged husband Kevin after he's brought before Judge Gibbs for traffic violations. Kevin tries to convince Kathy he's a changed man.

Kathy befriends a dog that saved her life. Meanwhile, the whole town is up in arms over a beast of some sort that attacked a young woman, biting off three fingers. According to witnesses (the Crowe family) the beast was either a Gatorman or the Okeechobee Wolfman. Judge Gibbs hires an exorcist to cast out Wanda Grace.