Ben has recently abandoned his University studies in psychology to continue the family tradition of stonemasonry. He is strongly attached to his 100 year old grandfather, Papaw, who believes in the old-fashioned family values of honesty, integrity, and hard work, the values Ben intends to ingrain in his own life. Ben's wife, Maven, is an attractive and honest woman who wants to become a lawyer. While Ben is apparently intended to be the protagonist, the events in the life of other family members provide the real dramatic vehicle for the play. Ben's older sister, Carlotta, preoccupied by her failed marriage, neglects her 15 year old son, Soldier, who becomes involved in crime and drugs and eventually runs away from home.
Soldier returns three years later only to die from drug addiction.
Ben's father, Big Ben, on the surface a successful owner of the stonemason business, is actually going through some unidentified financial problems which eventually lead to his suicide. The deaths of Soldier and Big Ben profoundly affect the life of the Telfair family. Dramatically, the play develops very slowly. Almost two acts are taken up to provide background information, a prelude to the most interesting, emotionally charged events which take place later in the play. Meanwhile, Ben's lengthy monologues and Papaw's lessons in stonemasonry, which are developed more like novelistic narrative than dramatic dialogue, quickly become detached from the play's action.