Part 1 Summary (through page 50)

This first Sunday of August is no ordinary day in Banner, Mississippi, for it is Granny Vaughn's ninetieth birthday and before the day is out four generations of her family will arrive to celebrate that fact. Even as dawn heralds the arrival of the special day, the Renfro family - Miss Beulah Renfro, Granny Vaughn's only granddaughter; Beulah's daughters: Ella Fay, sixteen; Etoyle, nine; and Elvie, seven; her youngest son, Vaughn, age twelve, and husband, Ralph Renfro - sit down to breakfast.

At the breakfast table, the children begin discussing who of the family they believe will be the last to arrive at the reunion. Etoyle thinks that Uncle Homer and Auntie Fay will take that prize, based solely on the fact that everyone is relying on them to bring the ice, while Elvie decides on Brother Bethune. For...