The story takes place at the Keller home in an American suburb. It's summer, around 1947.

Joe Keller is reading the 'want ads' in the newspaper in the backyard of his comfortable house. There is a fallen apple tree on the left front side of the yard.

 

• Joe Keller and his neighbor, Doctor Jim Bayliss are reading the paper. Joe's other neighbor, Frank, enters the yard. The neighbors chat about the weather and the want ads.

 

• Frank notices the fallen tree. It had been struck by lightning during the night. He observes how strange it is that the tree planted in memory of Larry (Joe's younger son) was struck down in his birth month.  He would have been twenty-seven this August, which Frank remembers because he's working on Larry's horoscope.

 

• Kate (Joe's wife) has asked Frank to figure out if the day on which Larry went missing was his "favorable day,".  Kate believes that this would mean that Larry could not have died.  Jim is skeptical.

 

• They begin to talk about Ann (Deever), a young woman who used to live next door. She's visiting the Kellers and is asleep upstairs.

 

• Jim makes a remark about how the neighborhood could use a pretty face. Just then his wife, Lydia, enters, nagging him about a patient's phone call. She is curious about Annie. She knows that Ann was meant to marry Larry and wants to know if she is now engaged.

 

• Joe's son, Chris Keller, enters. He starts reading the book section in the newspaper. They start to talk about Larry's tree.

 

• The neighbor boy, Bert enters. He is playing as Joe's "deputy" and tattles on some of the other kids on the street. He asks to see the jail Joe keeps in his basement, but Joe won't let him.

 

• Bert leaves and the talk turns back to the tree. "Mom saw it last night", says Chris. "She was outside when it broke, and then she came in and cried".  (Kate Keller, the mom, still believes Larry is coming back, even though it's been three years). Chris thinks they should make Kate accept that Larry is dead; Joe wants to leave things alone.

 

• Chris tells Joe that he intends to marry Ann and wants his help to get Kate to support the marriage. "Listen up, pop", he says – "I'm going to propose to Annie. But Mom still thinks she's Larry's girl."  Chris threatens to leave town – and the family business – if his father doesn't encourage his mother to support this marriage. Joe is shocked.

 

• Kate enters the backyard. She's happy the tree blew down, because it this means that Larry is still alive. The tree was supposed to be a memorial to Larry. 

 

• Chris tries to talk about Annie but Kate doesn't want to acknowledge that Chris might be courting her.

 

• Kate recalls a dream she had about Larry the night before. When she heard the wind, she imagined it was Larry flying by in his fighter plane.  Kate scolds Joe that they shouldn't have planted that tree. She thinks they gave up on Larry too soon.

 

• When Chris leaves to get his mother an aspirin, Kate turns on Joe. Chris better not be planning to propose to Annie. Joe lies and says he doesn't know anything more than she does.

 

• Kate wants Joe to believe with her that Larry will come back. He asks her to calm down.  They're again interrupted by Bert, who brings up the jail. Kate reacts sharply, telling him there is no jail there.

 

• Ann enters from the house. She's beautiful and beautifully dressed. She's been living in New York. When Kate sees how Chris admires her, she comments that Ann 'has put on a little weight'. 

 

• Ann remarks on the little changes in the neighborhood: trees, a missing hammock. She's introduced to Jim, who now lives in her old house.

 

• When Ann mentions Larry, Kate is relieved. Eventually she asks Ann directly if she's waiting for Larry. Ann says no.

 

• Frank comes in, which breaks the tension between Ann and Kate. Frank mentions Ann's father, Steve. who is in prison.

 

• Ann wants to know if the neighbors still talk about her father and his crime. Chris and Joe say no. Ann remembers the neighbors screaming "Murderers" at her father, Steve, and at Joe.

 

• Joe recalls the day he was found innocent of the crime. He and Steve had been accused of selling cracked cylinder heads to the Air Force, causing twenty-one planes to crash. Joe was exonerated; Ann's father was sent to prison. When Joe returned home, he walked down the street with defiance and pride. He suggests that Steve should do the same when he's released.

 

• Ann admits that neither she nor her brother keep in touch with their father anymore. They blame him for knowingly shipping out faulty parts, resulting in the death of so many American pilots. She wonders aloud whether this event was responsible for Larry's death. That really sets Kate off who tells Ann to never say this again.

 

• Joe Keller tells his version of the story:  there was a mad rush for parts, and when the cylinders came out cracked, Steve just decided to send them out. Joe accuses Steve of being a coward because he was afraid that Joe and the military would be displeased with the mistake, so he kept quiet about it.

 

• Chris breaks in. He just wants a change of subject. So they talk about steak and champagne instead, and Keller exits.

 

• At last, Chris asks Ann to marry him, and she says 'yes'. Now they just have to figure out how to tell Kate.

 

• Chris wants to get something off his chest about his time in the war.  As a the officer of a fighter unit, he lost all his men in a battle. When he returned to the States he felt that nobody noticed; he felt that the sacrifice of the men who died really meant nothing to the people at home. He has survivor's guilt. Chris feels as though he doesn't deserve life and doesn't deserve Ann.

 

• Ann sets him straight – he does deserve her and he should kiss her right now.

 

• Joe interrupts them. There's a phone call from George, Ann's brother.

 

• Chris tells Joe the news of his engagement to Ann. But Joe is preoccupied with this phone call. He's afraid George will want to open up his father's case again, and that Ann will be on his side.

 

• Ann comes out and informs them that George is coming there to settle something, but he wouldn't say what.   This rattles Joe and Kate. Kate tells Joe to be smart.