Grange Copeland, the main character in the novel, connects the three generations of Copelands as he moves through three phases of his own life: his years as an abusive father and husband; his period of crime and violence in the North; and his parenting of Ruth. In his first life, Grange, then a distant, alcoholic father, withholds love from his son Brownfield and indirectly causes the death of his wife Margaret, a submissive wife who dreams of a better life for her family in the North. Grange's alcoholism, infidelity, violence, and desertion drive her to suicide.

Brownfield never forgives his father for failing to love him and for destroying his mother. He also resents that his mother neglected him to please his father. Throughout his life, Brownfield seeks revenge on his father and control over a woman to relieve his sense of powerlessness.

After Margaret's death and Grange's...