In the Australian town of Corrigan, while Charlie Bucktin is in his room reading Pudd’nhead Wilson, Jasper Jones knocks on his window. An unkempt local boy known for being a troublemaker, Jasper leads Charlie out of town, repeatedly offering cigarettes, which Charlie turns down by pretending that he has already smoked too many. The two teenage boys pass the house of Mad Jack Lionel, who is rumored to have killed someone. Kids steal peaches from Lionel to prove their bravery, and both boys assume that the rumors about Lionel are true. Whenever any local kids get into mischief, their parents always ask them if they were with Jasper. One night, Charlie asked his father, Wes, what a “half-caste” is because that was how he heard people describe Jasper, but his normally even-tempered father got upset and told him that it is rude to speak of other people’s heritage. On that night, Wes gave Charlie full access to his own father’s book collection.

Back in the present moment, the boys arrive at a place of old-growth, and Jasper tells Charlie that he will wish never to have seen what Jasper is about to show him. Jasper is the only person whom Charlie would follow into the growth.