Louisiana Story is set in a small bayou in Louisiana. It tells the story of a boy who lives with his family and a raccoon in an unspoiled natural environment of lakes and rivers when oil companies enter his world. One day, an oil company comes to the boy and his family. They want to see if they can develop an oil well there. The boy's father gives them the right to explore their land, and a giant drill hole rises from the peaceful waterside. Flaherty, funded by the American oil company Standard Oil, blocks their intervention but does not depict the destruction and conflict that would result. Instead, it gives the boy a role in bringing the two worlds into dialog by moving him back and forth between the tranquil swamp and the noisy rig. As the boy observes the work of the oil drillers and slowly builds a relationship with them, Flaherty's direction is at its most lyrical and expressive when he uses Aboriginal actors and actual workers rather than professional actors as in his previous films. This was Robert Flaherty's last directorial effort.