On a spring evening, Ben and Mary Anne wait on their veranda for Sammy and the girl he is dating, Emma Lee Givens, to arrive. Mary Anne entertains Ben with an elaborate fantasy about her future fame as a writer, her eventual death by suicide, and the spectacular funeral where the world will mourn her genius. Sammy arrives and privately tells Ben he plans to take Emma Lee to a secluded beach spot after their movie. Ben and Mary Anne decline to join them.

After the film, Sammy drives to the isolated area where he and Ben had previously discovered Junior Palmer. As Sammy and Emma Lee kiss in the car, she spots a face in the window and screams. A Black man armed with a butcher knife yanks Sammy from the vehicle, holds the blade to his eye, cuts his cheek, and orders him to flee or watch Emma Lee die. Sammy runs toward town, shouting promises to bring help.

The attacker forces Emma Lee out of the car at knifepoint and commands her to remove her clothing. He rapes her, striking her face repeatedly when she screams. She loses consciousness from the beating. Sammy runs for miles before he can flag down a motorist. Police cars rush to the scene, and a highway patrolman discovers Emma Lee wandering the road in a state of severe trauma and shock, her face beaten beyond recognition.

Word of the rape spreads through Ravenel by morning, igniting racial tensions and a massive manhunt. Sammy’s parents, after receiving death threats, send him to live with relatives in New York. Ben visits Toomer in his alley as carloads of white men circle the area menacingly.

Red Pettus taunts Toomer, suggesting that the rapist stuttered and walked with a limp. Red follows Toomer, destroys his honey jars, and mocks his speech and gait. Toomer finally snaps after years of abuse, seizing Red by the throat and pinning him against a wagon wheel. Ed Mills convinces Toomer to release him, but Red threatens revenge.

That evening, Red and three relatives approach Toomer’s bus. Toomer has prepared by penning his dogs inside the bus and rigging a rope to his beehives. When the men reach a predetermined point, Toomer topples the hives, unleashing swarms that drive the other three men away. Red, after hiding underwater in the creek, returns with his revolver, bee-stung and furious.

Having heard of the threats to Toomer in town, Arabella phones the Meecham house, begging Ben to go out and rescue him. Ben calls Bull at the air station for permission, but Bull orders him to remain home. Mary Anne threatens to go herself, forcing Ben to defy his father’s command. When Bull calls again and asks to talk to Ben, she stalls him while Ben drives to Toomer’s in his mother’s car.

Red shoots through the window of the bus, killing one of Toomer’s dogs. His second shot strikes Toomer in the stomach, and he is immediately panicked and remorseful. Mortally wounded, Toomer staggers to the door of the bus and releases the dogs. Led by the Gray, the dogs chase Red into the woods and kill him.

Ben arrives and sees Red’s body. The Gray attacks him through the car window, tearing at his arm. Ben finds Toomer dying inside the bus and moves him to the car, but Toomer dies on the way. As Ben attempts to drive Toomer into town, Bull arrives. He pulls Ben out of the car and slaps him for disobeying orders. Ben defends his decision, noting that Bull would have done the same and pointing out that Bull deserted his own post. When Bull sees Toomer’s body, he is horrified and tells Ben to take him to the hospital while he contacts authorities.

On the first Friday in March, Bull hosts a formal Mess Night for his squadron. The evening begins with ceremonial elegance, formal toasts, and elaborate protocol. The formal portion concludes, and the gathering becomes a raucous party. Pilots drink heavily, watch adult films, arm-wrestle, and play carrier landings—sliding down a beer-slicked table while dodging a spinning fan. At three in the morning, Bull leads the entire squadron, still in dress uniforms, in a march off the diving board into the swimming pool.

At four, Bull arrives home intoxicated, singing “Silent Night.” The whole family recognizes that song as a warning signal. When the children hear violent sounds coming from below, they run down from their bedrooms to help Lillian. Bull has Lillian pinned against the wall by her throat, and all four children attack him. Ben, who is finally big enough to fight his father, knocks him away from Lillian. Bull overpowers him, lifts Ben by the neck, and slams his head against the wall. The family attacks him until he finally stops and stumbles out of the house.

After he leaves, Mary Anne leads the traumatized family in their counter-ritual, asking who is the worst person alive; they answer in unison that it is the Great Santini. Later, Lillian sends Ben to locate Bull. Ben finds him unconscious on the town green. As Ben helps him home, he impulsively tells his father he loves him. Bull tries to escape the words, but Ben pursues him across the grass, repeating the phrase until Bull collapses. Ben then walks him the rest of the way home in silence.

In late April, Ben asks Mary Anne to be his date for the Junior-Senior Prom. She initially resists, but Ben persuades her by noting it will be their last chance to attend an event together before he leaves for college. Against Lillian’s objections about the cost, Bull insists on purchasing Mary Anne a new formal gown.

On prom night, Ben and Lillian sit on the porch discussing whether Ben is truly Southern. Lillian confesses her fear that her children are rootless, having moved too frequently to develop genuine ties to any place. She explains she has tried to give them Atlanta as an anchor.

Mary Anne descends the stairs in her blue gown; she isn’t wearing her glasses and tells Ben he will have to guide her all night. They go to the Officers’ Club for dinner, and a waiter delivers a dozen red roses to Mary Anne from Bull.

During dinner, Mary Anne criticizes Ben, accusing him and Lillian of weaponizing their goodness and piety in ways more harmful than Bull’s temper. She claims Ben’s kindness is performative and designed for public approval. Ben defends himself, explaining he genuinely wanted to take her because she is his closest friend, and he will miss her when he goes to college. They reconcile.

At the dance, Ben and Mary Anne share the first dance, counting their steps and laughing. She proves popular, dancing with classmates, her teacher, and her principal. No one ridicules them, and the evening feels unexpectedly special.

On a night flight from Key West to Ravenel, Bull Meecham reflects on his enduring passion for flying and his sense of spiritual connection in the dark. Nearing Ravenel in poor weather, a fire-warning light illuminates the cockpit. He reports the emergency to the tower and requests an expedited landing.

At dawn, Ben watches the river, waiting for his father’s return and thinking of Toomer.

In the air, Bull’s emergency worsens: the engine vibrates, overheats, and finally explodes, extinguishing all cockpit lights. He declares a Mayday, turns out to see so that he won’t crash the plane in a populated area, and vanishes from radar.

Ben sees Colonel Varney and the base chaplain approaching the house and immediately understands their purpose. He wakes Lillian. Varney informs her that Bull’s aircraft has crashed, though his fate remains unknown.

Marine wives gather at the house to support Lillian while civilians join the search. Ben goes on the river with Mr. Dacus. Ed Mills intercepts them and tells Ben that searchers have recovered his father’s body. Bull is dead.

The family prepares for the funeral under Lillian’s strict guidance. She decrees that they will not weep in public, insisting they honor Bull by demonstrating strength. His coffin is brought home the night before the burial, while Marine pilots from across the country fill the Officers’ Club, trading stories and toasts.

That night, Ben sits with Lillian beside the coffin. He confesses that he hated his father for most of his life and admits he once dreamed of becoming a pilot solely to defeat Bull in aerial combat and finally escape him. Lillian reveals that Joe Varney asked her to marry him before Bull did. Mary Anne later notes that with Bull’s death, the nickname Santini has become a “dead word.”

At the funeral, Virgil eulogizes Bull as a true fighter pilot who chose to save the town rather than eject immediately. Jets perform a flyover in missing-man formation.

At three in the morning in early June, the family departs Ravenel for Atlanta. Ben drives, wearing Bull’s flight jacket. As they travel through the dark, Mary Anne flicks her tears at Ben’s neck with a spoon. Troubled to feel relief over Bull’s death, Ben imagines an ideal God assembled from the best traits of those he loves. Driving toward Atlanta in his father’s jacket, Ben finally and fully feels love for Santini.