The protagonist, Bigger Thomas, is a 20-year-old Black man living in abject poverty with his family on the South Side of Chicago. Bigger feels trapped by the systemic racism and lack of opportunities for Black people in America at that time.

One day, Bigger is hired as a chauffeur for the wealthy Dalton family. On his first night driving their daughter Mary, a series of events leads to Bigger accidentally suffocating her with a pillow when she returns home drunk. In a panic, Bigger decapitates her body and burns it in the furnace to cover up the crime.

Bigger goes into hiding but is eventually arrested, put on trial, and sentenced to death for the murders of Mary and his girlfriend Bessie, whom he killed to prevent her from talking. His lawyer, Boris Max, argues that Bigger's actions were an inevitable outcome of the racial oppression and fear instilled in him by white society.

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