"Good Country People" Summary

Mrs. Hopewell lives with her thirty-two-year-old daughter, Joy, and a hired couple, Mr. and Mrs. Freeman. Mrs. Hopewell hires the Freemans against the recommendations of their former employers because they are "good country people." Joy is a large blonde girl with an artificial leg, because of an accident when she was young. She is highly educated with a PhD degree and is convinced of her superiority.

A Bible salesman comes to the door and Mrs. Hopewell is kind to the young man because he convinces her he is "good country people." When he meets her daughter, sparks fly. He begins a subtle campaign to seduce the girl and eventually, she allows him to walk with her to the barn behind the pasture and they climb up into the hayloft. He opens his Bible case, disclosing a hollowed-out...