Through backstory, the narrative describes a miraculous occurrence that happened to Jeremiah before Reuben and Swede were born, which contributed to his wife eventually leaving the family. He’d been in college after they got married, ambitious and set on medical school. He was helping fix the roof of the campus athletic hall when a tornado hit, destroying the building but carrying Jeremiah unharmed inside the whirlwind for several miles. After that, his ambitions changed. He dropped out of school and began working as a plumber’s assistant. Reuben imagines his mom must have felt betrayed by this change in fortune. She stayed long enough to give birth to Reuben and Swede, but left shortly after. She married a doctor in Chicago and severed all ties with her former family.

In the present, Davy is arrested and jailed in the town of Montrose. Reporters and lawyers drop by the house, but those who’d called themselves friends stay away. Reuben does his best to give them the benefit of the doubt for their lack of support. Three men are the exception: Dr. Nokes, their preacher, James Reach, and the dime store owner and fellow church member, Mr. Layton. Newspaper accounts portray Davy sympathetically, as a hero who saved his family.