Pappy and Luke travel to Jonesboro and hire the Spruill family to help harvest the Chandler cotton fields.

Mexican migrant workers arrive at the Chandler farm in a cattle trailer instead of the promised bus.

Luke and his friend Dewayne witness Hank Spruill bludgeon Jerry Sisco with a two-by-four during a street fight.

Sheriff Stick Powers arrives at the Chandler farm and questions Hank Spruill, who claims he only broke up a fight.

Luke lies to Sheriff Powers, falsely claiming the Siscos held the two-by-four and attacked Hank three against one.

Hank Spruill deliberately throws a fastball at Cowboy during a farm baseball game, breaking Cowboy's ribs.

Hank enters a carnival boxing match and punches the strongman Samson unconscious, winning $250.

Stick Powers warns that an escaped Sisco is hunting Hank; Gran suggests letting Hank overhear the threat so he will flee voluntarily.

Jesse Chandler tells Leon Spruill about the threat, and Hank slips away from the farm that same night.

Cowboy follows Hank to the river bridge, kills him with a switchblade, robs the body, and dumps it in the river.

Cowboy catches Luke spying on the murder scene and threatens to kill Luke's mother if Luke tells anyone.

Stick Powers finds Pappy's stolen truck at a bus station and discovers Tally and Cowboy have eloped to Chicago.

The Spruills leave the farm for good; Trot gives Luke his paint and brushes to finish painting the house.

The river floods and destroys the cotton crops; the Chandlers borrow a boat and rescue the Latchers from their flooded home.

Pappy drives the family to the bus station and says a tearful goodbye as Luke and his parents depart for Michigan.

The autumn harvest on the Chandler farm brings two groups of migrant workers — the Spruill family and a contingent of Mexican laborers — whose presence upends Luke Chandler's world. When Hank Spruill murders a local man during a brawl in town, Luke is forced to lie to the sheriff to protect his family's harvest, carrying the weight of that secret throughout the season. Hank's violence escalates on the farm before a second murder — committed by a Mexican worker named Cowboy — silences Hank for good and leaves Luke with an even heavier secret to bear. As the season collapses under rain and flooding, the workforce scatters: Cowboy and Tally elope north, the Spruills leave, and the Mexican workers depart once the fields are ruined. The flood destroys the Chandlers' crops and forces a dramatic reckoning with the family's financial future. With no viable income remaining in Black Oak, Luke and his parents make the decision to move north, and the novel closes as Pappy tearfully waves goodbye at the bus station.

The central story of murder, secrets, and departure from Black Oak.

While Pappy haggles over wages in Jonesboro, Luke meets the Spruill children including the beautiful Tally and the disabled Trot.

Jesse Chandler introduces himself to the Spruills, and Luke meets the imposing and threatening Hank Spruill for the first time.

Hank Spruill rudely demands that Luke fetch him water during an afternoon rest, shocking Luke with his brazen disrespect.

Hank provokes Luke by pointing out that the Spruills have a painted house while the seemingly wealthier Chandlers do not.

Pappy takes Luke into town at the end of the week to sell their first cotton harvest at the gin.

After witnessing the Sisco fight, Luke and Dewayne go to the movies and watch a Gene Autry Western together.

Luke and his mother visit the Latcher family with food and discover that the fifteen-year-old Libby is pregnant.

Jesse Chandler asks Luke why he stayed silent during Stick's questioning; Luke lies and claims the fight happened too fast to see clearly.

Tally asks Luke to keep watch at Siler's Creek while she bathes; Luke secretly watches and Tally tells him it is only natural.

Cowboy shows Luke his switchblade and confides that he has killed many men with it before.

Luke discovers that Trot has been secretly painting the Chandler house while the others pick cotton, with Tally buying his supplies.

Percy Latcher arrives at the Chandler farm to announce that Ricky Chandler is the father of Libby's newborn baby.

Jimmy Dale's Yankee wife Stacey mocks Luke; he retaliates by warning her a poisonous snake waits outside the outhouse, trapping her inside.

Luke's father beats him with a belt as punishment for locking Stacey in the outhouse, even though the family found it amusing.

Miguel tells Pappy that someone has been throwing dirt clods onto the barn roof at night and struck a worker with a rock.

Beneath the headline events of murder and flood, the cotton season is filled with smaller but significant encounters that deepen Luke's understanding of his world. From his first meeting with the Spruill children to his discovery that neighboring sharecroppers are living in desperate poverty, Luke gathers unsettling new knowledge at every turn. Characters reveal themselves through private moments — Hank's bullying, Tally's surprising openness at the creek, and Cowboy's chilling confession about his switchblade — that build steadily toward the season's violent conclusion. The revelation that Luke's uncle Ricky fathered Libby Latcher's baby sends shockwaves through both families and complicates the Chandlers' pride in their absent soldier. A visit from condescending northern relatives, Luke's prank and its punishment, and the quiet discovery that Trot Spruill has been painting the Chandler house all add texture to the season. Together, these secondary events reveal the social tensions, class anxieties, and family dynamics that define life in Black Oak.

The smaller dramas and daily tensions that shaped the cotton season.

Pappy negotiates terms with the Mexican workers' leader Miguel and brings the migrant group to the Chandler farm for the harvest.

During the first days of cotton picking, Luke fantasizes about marrying Tally and feels jealous watching Cowboy smile at her.

After Hank demands water, Luke decides to stay silent rather than risk a conflict that could cause the Spruills to abandon the farm.

The Chandlers attend Sunday church and learn that Jerry Sisco has died from the injuries Hank inflicted during the brawl.

Cowboy pulls a switchblade on Hank after being hit by the fastball; Jesse and Miguel rush in and break up the confrontation.

Pappy and Luke go to town where Luke meets Jackie Moon, who also witnessed the Sisco fight and shares his deep unease.

The Chandler family receives a letter from Ricky saying the war effort is going well and he hopes to return home soon.

Tally persuades Luke to sneak out at night and spy on Libby Latcher's difficult childbirth from the edge of the forest.

Two tornadoes touch down near the Chandler farm during a powerful storm, and the worsening weather darkens Jesse Chandler's mood.

Luke overhears Tally speaking secretly with Cowboy among the cotton rows, confirming that the two have begun a romance.

Luke visits Pearl's house and watches a Cardinals baseball game on a television set for the first time, left completely speechless.

Luke faints while peeling tomatoes, the visual imagery of the task triggering a traumatic reaction to the violence he has witnessed.

Luke spends his own cotton-picking savings on paint so the house-painting project can continue despite the family's tight finances.

Kathleen reveals to Luke that she is pregnant; Luke in return confesses that he snuck out and spied on Libby's delivery.

Luke privately tells Pappy that he witnessed Cowboy murder Hank; Pappy says the two of them will carry the secret together.

The autumn of 1952 is defined not only by what happens to Luke but by the choices he makes and the truths he uncovers along the way. From the moment he decides to stay silent about Hank's bullying, Luke begins accumulating secrets that increasingly isolate him from the adults around him. Witnessing Sisco's death at church, spying on a nighttime childbirth, and overhearing Tally and Cowboy's clandestine romance all push Luke deeper into a world that seven-year-olds are not supposed to inhabit. The physical and emotional toll of these secrets eventually breaks through in a traumatic fainting episode, signaling just how much weight Luke has been carrying alone. Small acts of agency — spending his own savings on paint and watching baseball on television for the first time — quietly mark his growth toward independence and a life beyond the farm. By the time he confesses to Pappy and the family prepares to leave, Luke has moved irrevocably from the innocence of childhood into a more complicated understanding of loyalty, violence, and truth.