Set around 1727 near Boston, Massachusetts, the story centers on Tom Walker, a cheap and stingy miser who lives with his equally greedy but more abusive wife. One day, while taking a shortcut home through a swampy forest near an old Indian fortress, Tom Walker runs into the devil incarnate, here taking the form of a swarthy, soot-covered lumberjack named “Old Scratch”. Years earlier, the pirate Kidd had hidden a treasure deep in this forest and made a deal with the devil to protect his money. Kidd died and was never able to claim his treasure, but Old Scratch continues to protect it long after he is gone. Old Scratch now offers Tom full access to Kidd’s hidden gold, in return for which Tom must give up his soul.