Required to remain silent while his grandmother lies ill in bed, four-year-old Richard Wright becomes bored and begins playing with the fire near the curtains, leading him to accidentally burn the family home in Natchez, Mississippi. Out of fear, Richard hides under the burning house. His father retrieves him from his hiding place. Then, his mother Ella beats him so badly that he loses consciousness and becomes ill. Nathan abandons his family to live with another woman while Richard and his brother Alan are still very young. Without Nathan's financial support, the Wrights fall into perpetual poverty and starvation. Richard closely associates his family's hardships – and particularly their hunger – with his father and thus becomes bitter towards him. In the years since, Ella struggles to raise her children in Memphis, Tennessee. Her long work hours leave her little time to supervise Richard and his brother. Unsurprisingly, Richard gets into all sorts of trouble, spying on people in toilets and becoming a regular at the local saloon - and an alcoholic - by the age of six. Ella's declining health prevents her from raising two children on her own and often leaves her unable to work. During these times, Richard does all the odd jobs a child can do to bring some money to the family. School is certainly not an option for him. At one point, the family's problems are so serious that Ella is forced to place her children in an orphanage for a few weeks. Life gets better when Ella moves to Elaine, Arkansas to live with her sister Maggie and her sister's husband, Hoskins. Hoskins runs a successful saloon, so there is always plenty of food to eat, a condition Richard appreciates but can't get used to. Soon, however, white jealousy over Hoskins' commercial success reaches a fever pitch, as local white men kill Hoskins and threaten the rest of his family. Ella and Maggie flee with the two boys to West Helena, Arkansas. There, the two sisters' combined wages make life easier than it was in Memphis. After only a short time, however, Maggie flees to Detroit with her lover, Professor Matthews, leaving Ella as the family's sole support. Difficult times for the economy are returning. Times become even more difficult when a paralytic stroke severely incapacitates Ella. Richard's grandmother takes Ella, Richard and Alan to her home in Jackson, Mississippi. Ella's many siblings gather in Jackson to decide how to care for their sick sister and her two children.