A few years prior, Henry is conned out of renting a home and is forced to live near sharecroppers on a farm outside the town of Marietta, Mississippi and moves there with his wife Laura, their daughters, and his virulently racist father, Pappy. The Jackson family, led by tenant farmer Hap and his wife Florence, work the farm's cotton field and dream of owning their own land one day. As World War II begins, Jamie and the Jacksons' eldest son, Ronsel, join the United States Army Air Corps and U.S. Army, respectively. Both men experience severe war trauma in the European theater as Jamie flies B-25 bombers and Ronsel commands tanks. Ronsel also falls in love with a white German woman. Meanwhile, in Mississippi both families continue to live in poverty and support each other out of necessity. When the Jacksons' mule has to be euthanized, Henry offers to rent out his mule but exacts half of the Jacksons' crop in payment; leaving the Jacksons no choice but to accept. Florence also helps the McAllan family when their two young daughters fall ill with whooping cough; and then Laura offers Florence work helping care for her daughters permanently. Hap, who serves as the preacher for the local black community, falls while helping to build a church, breaking his leg and rendering him unable to work his fields. Laura sneaks money from her husband's safe so Hap can be properly treated by a doctor, much to Henry's disapproval and causing their passionless marriage to worsen.