Commander Yu assembles his militia to ambush an approaching Japanese convoy in the sorghum region.

Grandmother carries food through the red sorghum fields to deliver it to the waiting militia.

Japanese soldiers open fire into the sorghum fields, shooting and killing Grandmother before the ambush begins.

The narrator identifies himself as the grandson of Commander Yu and begins recounting his family's history through memory.

Grandmother is arranged to marry the diseased, sickly son of a wealthy local sorghum distillery owner.

Commander Yu, acting as a bandit, murders the distillery owner's son to claim Grandmother for himself.

Grandmother takes control of the sorghum distillery and runs it as head of the business.

The villagers unite to form an armed resistance against the advancing Japanese occupation forces.

Uncle Arhat is captured by Japanese soldiers after being discovered carrying out acts of sabotage.

Japanese soldiers publicly flog Uncle Arhat and then skin him alive as punishment for his sabotage.

Commander Yu launches his militia's planned ambush against the Japanese convoy moving through the sorghum region.

Grandmother's body is located in a mass grave in the aftermath of the battle.

A funeral arranged for Grandmother is interrupted when a mysterious stranger arrives riding a mule.

The mysterious stranger is killed in a brutal, graphic manner before anyone can explain his presence.

The surviving militia members return to the sorghum fields after the battle to find the landscape transformed by bloodshed.

Red Sorghum opens with Commander Yu assembling his militia in the sorghum fields to ambush a Japanese convoy, only for his wife — the narrator's grandmother — to be shot dead in the fields before the battle even begins. Her death triggers the narrator's long reminiscence about the family's past, beginning with Grandmother's forced marriage to a diseased distillery owner's son and Commander Yu's violent act of murdering the husband to claim her. Grandmother takes over the distillery and builds a life rooted in sorghum wine, while the village is slowly drawn into armed resistance against the Japanese. Uncle Arhat, a key figure in that resistance, is captured and executed — flogged and skinned alive — in one of the novel's most brutal passages. The ambush is eventually launched, and in its aftermath Grandmother's body is found in a mass grave; her funeral is interrupted by a mysterious stranger who arrives on a mule and is killed before his purpose can be explained. The pool closes with the surviving militia returning to the sorghum fields to find the landscape utterly transformed by the violence that consumed it.

The headline arc of war, family, and loss.

The village is described as situated between the Yang of White Horse Mountain and the Yin of Black Water River.

Grandmother's wedding sedan chair procession travels through the vast red sorghum fields on her way to her arranged marriage.

The young Commander Yu first encounters Grandmother when her wedding sedan chair passes through the sorghum fields.

The narrator recounts the unusual origin story behind the family sorghum wine's distinctive and celebrated quality.

Commander Yu is characterized throughout the story as simultaneously deeply cruel and genuinely pure-hearted.

The ripening red sorghum is described as resembling a vast sea of blood stretching across the landscape.

Japanese military forces advance into the territory surrounding the family's village and sorghum fields.

The narrator recounts Uncle Arhat's life and death a first time, portraying him as a brave hero.

The narrator recounts Uncle Arhat's life and death a second time, portraying him as a fool instead.

A flashback depicts Uncle Arhat stabbing a mule with a spade in a sudden act of violence.

Soldiers recoil in disgust when they see the decomposed state of Grandmother's body exhumed from the mass grave.

Despite soldiers' disgust, Grandmother's exhumed corpse is also described as still appearing as fresh and lovely as a flower.

A pack of feral dogs is discovered feeding on the bodies of soldiers killed during the recent battles.

Family members attempt to cull the feral dog pack, but the dogs turn violently on each other instead.

The men kill the remaining dogs, eat the meat for sustenance, and wear dog skins as protection against winter cold.

Pool 2 traces the texture and atmosphere surrounding the main plot, from the village's mythic geography between White Horse Mountain and Black Water River to the violent beauty of the ripening red sorghum described as a sea of blood. It explores Grandmother's wedding day journey by sedan chair — the moment Commander Yu first encountered her — and the unusual origin story behind the family's celebrated sorghum wine. The contradictions of wartime life are embodied through two separate accounts of Uncle Arhat: first as a brave hero, then as a fool, with a vivid flashback showing his volatile temper. The aftermath of battle is rendered through the disturbing double image of Grandmother's exhumed corpse, simultaneously described as disgustingly decomposed and as fresh as a flower. The pool closes with one of the novel's darkest sequences, in which feral dogs feed on the war dead, family members fail to stop them, and the surviving men ultimately kill the dogs, eat their meat, and wear their skins against the winter cold.

The secondary moments that built the world of the novel.

Grandmother's death in the sorghum field is framed as the event linking the narrator's present life to his family's past.

Grandmother discovers on her wedding night that her new husband is covered with leprosy.

Commander Yu intercepts Grandmother's sedan chair procession and abducts her into the sorghum fields.

Commander Yu and Grandmother share a passionate encounter alone among the sorghum stalks.

The narrator acknowledges that his memories of his family carry a fable-like, clouded, and detached quality.

Grandmother's first act as sole distillery owner is to assert her authority over workers who question her leadership.

Japanese troops set fire to portions of the sorghum fields as a targeted act of collective punishment against the village.

The Japanese military devastates the village in brutal retaliation following a series of resistance and sabotage operations.

Commander Yu's militia suffers catastrophic losses when the Japanese convoy counterattacks during the ambush.

The narrator presents two contradictory accounts of Arhat's character and acknowledges both versions may be equally true.

The narrator shifts his perspective to inhabit the viewpoints of animals to describe events he could not have witnessed.

The color green is established as loathsome throughout the narration, associated with stagnant lake water and decay.

The feral dogs' self-destructive infighting among themselves is presented as a direct mirror of villagers fighting over resources.

The narrator reflects that his family's home village was simultaneously both terrible in its violence and magical in its wonder.

The narrator returns to the family burial site and discovers the red sorghum permanently displaced by green hybrid plants.

Pool 3 focuses on the hidden pivots and narrative revelations that give Red Sorghum its depth and contradiction. It begins with the narrator's central framing: Grandmother's death is the link connecting his present life to his family's layered past, and he immediately acknowledges that his memories carry a fable-like, distorted quality. The backstory of Grandmother's marriage reveals the defining moment when she discovered her husband's leprosy, followed by Commander Yu's abduction of her from the sedan chair and their passionate union in the sorghum fields, cementing a dynasty built on violence and desire. The war escalates through Japanese destruction of the sorghum fields and devastating reprisals against the village, culminating in the militia's catastrophic losses during the ambush. The narrator's unreliable narration reaches its peak when he openly acknowledges that both contradictory versions of Arhat — hero and fool — may be equally true, and that he sometimes speaks through the eyes of animals. The pool concludes with the narrator's final return to the family burial site, where he finds the red sorghum permanently displaced by green hybrid plants — a symbol of irreversible cultural and personal loss.