Rachel visits Bert Cates in jail and begs him to admit he was wrong; he refuses to back down.

Matthew Harrison Brady arrives in Hillsboro to a cheering crowd that sings and celebrates his presence.

Hornbeck informs the townspeople that the Baltimore Herald has hired Henry Drummond to defend Bert Cates.

Henry Drummond arrives in Hillsboro; young Melinda screams that he is the Devil and runs away frightened.

During jury selection, Drummond successfully objects to seating a man named Dunlap who openly declares his support for Brady.

Rachel urges Drummond and Bert to end the trial and have Bert admit wrongdoing; Bert refuses to quit.

Rachel admits to Bert and Drummond that Brady has asked her to testify against Bert at the trial.

Brady calls young Howard to the witness stand and asks him to describe what Bert taught in science class.

Rachel reluctantly testifies against Bert, revealing that he stopped attending church and once questioned God's existence.

Drummond attempts to call fifteen scientists to testify about evolution, but the Judge refuses to allow a single one.

Drummond calls Brady to the witness stand, declaring him an expert witness on the Bible.

Brady claims God spoke to him directly to oppose Darwin; Drummond sarcastically introduces him to the jury as a prophet.

The jury finds Bert Cates guilty, and the Judge sentences him only to pay a $100 fine instead of imprisonment.

Brady attempts to deliver a speech after the verdict but suddenly collapses and is carried out of the courtroom.

Drummond weighs the Bible and Darwin's book in his hands, then places both together in his briefcase.

Bert Cates has been jailed in Hillsboro for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution to his students. The famous prosecutor Matthew Harrison Brady arrives to lead the case against him, while defense attorney Henry Drummond is brought in by a Baltimore newspaper to fight for Bert's intellectual freedom. The trial reveals a deep divide between Hillsboro's religious community and the outside world, with Drummond using every legal tool available to argue that the right to think freely is at stake. Unable to call scientific witnesses, Drummond puts Brady himself on the stand and exposes the contradictions buried within a strictly literal reading of the Bible. Bert is found guilty but fined only $100, and Brady collapses moments after the verdict is read. In the play's final image, Drummond places the Bible and Darwin's book side by side in his briefcase, suggesting the two need not be enemies.

The central events of Bert Cates's evolution trial from arrest to verdict.

Howard tells Melinda that humans descended from worms; she insists he is sinning by saying so.

Townspeople raise a large "READ YOUR BIBLE" banner in the town square ahead of Brady's arrival.

The Mayor awards Brady an honorary colonel title and the crowd gathers around a welcoming buffet lunch.

Brady steers Rachel away from the crowd to question her privately about Bert's character and religious views.

Reverend Brown leads a prayer meeting and calls on God to strike Bert Cates down with destruction.

Brady quotes a Bible passage about inheriting the wind to warn Reverend Brown against being overzealous with the townspeople.

After jury selection, the judge announces an evening prayer meeting and Drummond objects to the "Read Your Bible" sign outside the courthouse.

Drummond cross-examines Howard and praises the boy for being uncertain whether he even believes what Bert taught him.

The judge dismisses Rachel from the witness stand before Drummond has any opportunity to cross-examine her.

Drummond questions Brady about details the Bible leaves vague, including who Cain married and where his wife came from.

Drummond presents Brady with a rock over ten million years old, challenging his belief that the Earth is only 6,000 years old.

The jury's guilty verdict is read aloud and the courtroom crowd splits between those cheering and those opposing it.

Meeker informs Bert that Hornbeck has paid the $500 bond, meaning Bert does not have to return to jail.

The announcement of Brady's death sobers the courtroom; Hornbeck mocks Brady and Drummond furiously defends Brady's memory.

Bert and Rachel decide to leave Hillsboro together and head to the train station to start a new life.

Before the trial even begins, the people of Hillsboro publicly declare their allegiances, raising religious banners and celebrating Brady's arrival with a feast and a military title. Brady quietly collects ammunition for his case by pulling Rachel aside in private, setting up her devastating courtroom testimony. The community's religious fervor reaches its peak during Reverend Brown's prayer meeting, where even Brady must step in to prevent excessive zealotry. Inside the courtroom, Drummond presses Brady about the gaps and contradictions in a literal reading of the Bible, using a ten-million-year-old rock to challenge creationist timelines. After the guilty verdict, the crowd's reaction splits, and small but significant moments—such as Hornbeck paying Bert's bond—reveal the complexity beneath the town's apparent unity. The pool ends as Bert and Rachel quietly leave Hillsboro behind, beginning a new chapter together.

The supporting moments, community tensions, and behind-the-scenes actions that shaped the trial.

Hornbeck arrives in Hillsboro and buys a hotdog instead of a Bible, declaring himself a skeptic to the crowd.

Mrs. Brady repeatedly tries to stop her husband from overeating at the welcoming buffet, but Brady brushes her off.

Hornbeck encounters Rachel in the courthouse while eating an apple and challenges her to question where humanity truly came from.

Drummond accepts apathetic juror George Sillers; Brady protests that a fair jury must consist of fervently religious people.

Bert begs Rachel not to testify, warning that Brady will turn his private religious doubts into damning evidence against him.

Rachel interrupts her father's prayer meeting to defend Bert; Reverend Brown threatens to call God's wrath down on her too.

Brady and Drummond meet after the prayer meeting and acknowledge that their once-close friendship has irreparably fallen apart.

Brady warns the jury that unless Bert is stopped, children like Howard will grow up corrupted by godless science.

Under Brady's relentless questioning, Rachel breaks down in tears and becomes too distressed to continue her testimony.

Brady reluctantly concedes to Drummond that the seven days of creation might not have each lasted exactly 24 hours.

Brady grows inarticulate and shouts the names of Bible books as the watching crowd erupts in laughter and mocks him.

A radio operator sets up broadcasting equipment in the courtroom so the verdict can be transmitted live across the nation.

Drummond assures a dejected Bert that despite the guilty verdict, he has won an important moral victory in the minds of the people.

Rachel arrives carrying a suitcase, declares she is leaving her father, and concludes that ideas must be free to exist in the world.

Hornbeck storms out in disgust after Drummond defends Brady's right to believe and quotes the Bible to silence him.

From the moment Hornbeck arrives in Hillsboro as a self-declared skeptic, the trial is shaped by private confrontations and personal revelations as much as courtroom arguments. Hornbeck challenges Rachel's faith with an apple in hand, planting the first seeds of doubt, while Brady secretly gathers testimony by interrogating her before proceedings begin. The emotional core of the story emerges as characters are forced to choose sides: Bert warns Rachel about Brady's manipulations, and Rachel is publicly broken down on the witness stand by her own father's ally. Drummond's cross-examination of Brady then pries open the contradictions within biblical literalism, eventually reducing Brady to an incoherent figure of ridicule in his own community. As the trial concludes, Rachel's transformation becomes complete when she arrives with a suitcase, having read Darwin and concluded that ideas cannot and should not be suppressed. The pool closes with Hornbeck's furious exit, marking him as the last character unable to accept the play's final message of open-minded tolerance.

The key decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that transformed the characters.