Summary

The period of great transition in the south following the Civil War is the setting for this story that demonstrates the consequences of human hate and ignorance. Even as the people attend revival services to rekindle their faith in God, an underlying feeling of sin and resistance flows through the town.

In Chapter 1, the African American young woman, Nonnie, waits at the gate for Tracy to come. In the distance she can hear the hymns being sung at the town’s tent revival. She thinks back to when she was six years old, and Tracy, a white boy who was 12 years old, had run off a boy who’d tried to take off her clothes. Now, Nonnie tells Tracy she’s pregnant, a result of their secret love affair. Tracy leaves quickly, making excuses that his mother is worked up about the revival...