Beginning

As the play opens, the White Devils live on the hill, atop of which grows the purple Flower-of-Life-at-Its-Fullest. The Us's have worked to build all of the roads and houses on the hill but are forced to live in the valley, where they" spend their time trying to devise means of getting up the hill " Meanwhile, the White Devils "try every trick, known and unknown," to prevent the Us's from reaching the hill.

The action begins in the evening, as the Us's rest beside a brook, "with their backs toward Nowhere and their faces toward Somewhere." The White Devils can be heard singing from the hillside, "You stay where you are! / We don't want you up here!" The Us's discuss their prospects of ever reaching the hill to see the purple flower. Another Us claims that he is not concerned with the White Devils and that he...