An unnamed girl walks into town with her mother and three brothers. Her mother wears a black dress that her husband gave her before he died fighting for the Union at Vicksburg, but she will not tell her children where they're going. When they walk into the town square, they see a crowd of people and gallows, and the girl realizes what's happening. Her older brother Rome, who was twenty-one, had been in a bar fight that had resulted in his opponent's death. Their mother was too grief-stricken to do anything about it, not even going to her son's trial. Thad, the second oldest in the family, tried to go into town and get a job to pay for a lawyer, but because he was only fourteen, no one would hire him. The girl wanted to go with him, since she was almost thirteen years old, but Thad told her to stay home and help their mother with the store. After being gone for a few weeks, Thad returned starving. At home, the mother had changed, treating all her children as if they were smaller versions of Rome, with the same capacity for violence that would end them up in trouble. That's why she decided to bring them to the public execution, so that they might learn a lesson. At the town square, they see Rome and another man who had participated in the fight be brought out onto the gallows. One of the girl's younger siblings wanted to know what was happening, so their mother lifted him up to see. She then asked Thad to lift up the youngest, but Thad said that he wouldn't. The girl was worried that she would be asked to do it instead, but her mother didn't. During the execution, the girl closed her eyes and grabbed her younger brother's hand, then knelt down to comfort him when it was over. She is unable to cry. Thad came over to her and told her it was time to go. On the walk back home, the youngest isn't fast enough to keep up. When Thad turns around to tell them to walk faster, they see that he's crying. He walks over to the side of the road and vomits, then he punches the wall, blaming himself for not being old enough to help his brother. Seeing this, his sister cries.