Sonny grows up in Harlem with his family, including a brother who is seven years his senior. In high school, Sonny decides that he wants to be a jazz musician and skips school regularly to pursue this path. Though his brother tries to convince Sonny to just finish his last year, Sonny eventually leaves school altogether and joins the army, putting a strain on their relationship. Though the older brother is angry at Sonny's immaturity, when he speaks with their mother on the topic, she pleads that he stays in touch with Sonny, letting him know that no matter what he will always have a brother. The mother says that this is necessary because their deceased father had a brother, whom he never spoke of to the kids. This is because when his father was young, he saw his brother get killed in a hit-and-run by a car full of White men trying to scare him, leaving his crushed body and guitar on the street. The brother doesn't fulfill his role completely until his mother dies, at which point he tries to reconnect with Sonny after years of silence. He visits him, delving into a musician's world, where Sonny treats his fellow musicians more like family than his own brother, leading to another argument, ending in Sonny telling him to treat it as though he has died. Further down the road, the brother is reading the paper when he sees Sonny's name in an article informing him that he's had a heroin overdose, now in recovery. Though he feels he should write, he doesn't until his daughter dies of polio, familiar now with the pain that Sonny must've been enduring. The two reconnect quickly and Sonny comes to visit long-term when he's out of recovery. They drive around Harlem, witnessing the pain of the residents and the darkness that nearly killed Sonny. Sonny has his first gig since overdosing and invites his brother. Beforehand, they have a talk about heroin, and how Sonny got into it because musicians feel such pain that many of them find it necessary to cope. This makes the brother panic slightly, afraid that Sonny will relapse, but Sonny is certain that he is fine now. When Sonny plays, the brother is deeply moved, hearing all the pain of a musician, hearing all the pain of a son.