The novel opens with a boy and his father going to the movies. Later that night, the boy’s father is called by his alcoholic brother, alerting him that their father is in grave shape after having a heart attack. On the way back home, he is killed in a car accident. The tragedy not only ends his life, but also the domestic happiness and contentment of his young family, as well as the lives of his alcoholic brother and atheistic brother-in-law. It is at once a picture of life in the middle south in the early 1900s and the power of family and religion. It is considered a masterpiece of courage in the face of death, memories, and childhood perceptions.