The novel begins in New York City on the 14th birthday of the central character in the plot, John Grimes. The reader is told immediately that the people in John's life all expect him to become a preacher when he comes of age, just as his father did. John's memories reveal bittersweet Sunday mornings as the Grimes family prepares for church services that are held in a store front church called "The Temple of the Fire Baptized," which is just a few blocks up the street.
Despite expectations for John's future in the ministry, he is not the best Sunday school student. He often becomes distracted, forgets his lessons, and is reprimanded by his Sunday school teacher, Elisha, an older boy of 17 whom John greatly admires. While John's lapses bring him the anger of his father, his brother Roy's utter disinterest is generally expected, and "[e]veryone was always praying that the Lord would change Roy's heart." John is expected to be a good example to his younger brother.
Although church services at first appear to be very free, emotional, and spontaneous, there are strict standards and expectations that must not be violated. One Sunday, Father James calls Elisha and Ella Mae before the congregation and reprimands them for the time that they have been spending together, warning them against "the sin he knew they had not committed yet," "a sin beyond all forgiveness."
The first of his family or his neighbors to wake that Saturday morning, John is greeted by a silent house. He feels an immediate sense of foreboding and recalls that he has sinned. His thoughts jump to wondering if his birthday will again go unremembered and uncelebrated.
