Ambrose Clark is a pariah in his small town because every day he leaves his wife and daughter, Sybil and Pearl, at home to fend for themselves while he goes off 'sunchasing.' This is because Ambrose has convinced himself that if he could only capture a drop of sunlight, he would be able to bring joy and eternal easiness to the town. He runs, he crawls towards the sun every day just to watch it set beyond his grip. Whereas most residents of the town believe he's just an alcoholic, the doctor believes he is mentally ill, and the sheriff believes that he'd do better in jail. Regardless, Sybil and Pearl are dedicated to him, with Sybil working grating hours doing laundry to make ends meet, and Pearl relinquishing what few coins the child has to help her father. One night, when Ambrose came home with a lit lamp, claiming to have finally captured the sun, he accidentally injures Pearl. The sheriff arrests him the next morning, despite Sybil's protests, insisting that what Ambrose needs is penance: to reflect on his actions in solitary confinement. Sybil is now left all alone to take care of Pearl and Ambrose in two separate locations, so when she finishes her work for the day, she tells Sybil to stay in the house while she goes and delivers the laundry. Pearl is worried about her father, asking if he'll be fed where they've taken him, and despite Sybil's reassurances, Pearl worries for her father. So, she takes her last coin and buys as much bread as she can, then heads to his cell in the snowy night. Upon arriving, she gets no answer from him when she calls, so instead, she breaks pieces of bread off and slips them through the bars. When Ambrose wakes up, he finds the bread and Pearl's shoes, thinking that they're relics from the sunchasers. He begins making a ruckus, to which the doctor and sheriff inquire. Approaching his cell, they find Pearl's frozen body in the snow. They rush her inside, looking for firewood, only for the sheriff to say that he doesn't keep any firewood here because the people held here are undeserving of it. When the town learns of what had happened, they unanimously agree that no one else should ever be kept in that cell again.