Book Summary To Kill a MockingbirdTo Kill a Mockingbird Small-town Alabama, 1932. Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck) is a lawyer and a widower. He has two young children, Jem and Scout. Atticus Finch is currently defending Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. Meanwhile, Jem and Scout are intrigued by their … is primarily a novel about growing up under extraordinary circumstances in the 1930s in the Southern United States . The story covers a span of three years, during which the main characters undergo significant changes.