Beau is thee dead victim who dies before the action begins. ??????

One afternoon, a white woman, Candy, discovers that a Cajun farmer, Beau Boutan, has been shot in Mathu's, a black man, yard. She enlists the help of seventeen other old black men by having them come to Mathu's yard, each with a shotgun and one empty number 5 shell. She and the men all claim to be responsible for the murder, in an effort to protect the guilty party. Meanwhile, the Sheriff Mapes arrives to the scene to arrest the real murderer(most likely Mathu, as he was the only black man who stood up against racism and the Boutans.) The Sherriff also wishes to keep Beau's father, Fix Boutan, from coming to lynch the blacks.