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Summary of events
It is a Sunday morning in the backyard of the Keller home. The house lies in the outskirts of an American town and the time is soon after the Second World War. Joe Keller is a middle-aged business man whose factory produced aeroplane parts during the war. Chris Keller, Joe's son, comes into the yard with his father and sits down to read the newspaper. We soon become aware of how different father and son are when they start to talk about the tree that fell down in the storm during the night. It becomes clear that Joe is a man who does not like to face the truth when he suggests that they try to hide the broken tree from Kate, his wife. Chris makes it clear that this is a ridiculous thing to try and do as she already knows about the broken tree; he heard her crying in the night when it cracked.
They now start to discuss Chris' elder brother, Larry, who was a pilot in the war and never came back. The tree had been planted in his memory. Chris, always honest, makes it clear that he thinks it was a mistake to let her think that Larry could still be alive. He tells his father that they must say to Kate that there is no hope, but Joe refuses to do so. Once more we see a man unable to face up to the truth. Chris then says that he has invited Ann, who was Larry's girl, to come and visit. He has decided to ask Ann to marry him. Joe is appalled and says that he must consider his mother's feelings. From her point of view Larry is not dead and so Chris can have no right to take his girl away from him. But Chris can wait no longer; he wants to marry Ann and go to live in a different town. Joe is shocked to hear that Chris intends to leave the business which he has built up. After all, he only did it for his family, and so expects Chris to take it over from him soon. But Chris does not care: all he wants is Ann and a family of his own.
His mother, Kate, appears from the house and starts to speak about Larry. She says that she is glad that Ann is a decent girl who did not marry another man as soon as she heard that Larry was missing. Chris is embarrassed and tries to change the subject, but Kate goes on to speak of a dream she had: Larry had crashed in his plane and when she woke up, the tree had broken. She accuses her husband of having planted the tree too soon in remembrance of Larry; after all, he might come back. Chris says they must try to put Larry out of their minds, rebuild their lives without Larry. He suggests going out to dinner at the shore and goes into the house.
Kate is angry and turns on Joe. She tells him she has noticed what is going on between Chris and Ann but she cannot tolerate the idea of a marriage. She wants them all to go on believing that Larry is coming back. At this stage we are led to believe that it is Kate who cannot face reality and that Joe is, fundamentally, a good man.
Ann and Chris appear on the porch and, after a brief but warm welcome, Kate again begins to speak about Larry; she more or less tells Ann that,deep in her heart, she is still waiting for him. Ann denies this, but Kate insists that it is true. We now learn that twenty-one pilots were killed in the war because Joe's factory had produced defective cylinder heads. Joe and his manager, Steve, Ann's father, had been convicted. Joe was later exonerated after an appeal and the blame was laid fully on Steve, who is still in prison. Neither Ann nor her brother George has ever written to their father because they cannot forgive him; Ann is haunted by the idea that Larry could so easily have been one of the pilots thus killed. In her seemingly naive ignorance of the truth, Kate gets very angry and accuses Ann of being heartless; she forbids any more talk of Larry's death. She goes on to say that she knows Larry is alive and therefore all talk about his death is irrelevant. Joe also comes to Steve's defence, reminding Ann that great pressure was put on Steve by the armed forces to deliver the cylinder heads on time; when a defective batch came out Steve had more or less been forced to hide the faults. This was wrong of him but it was not murder. The irony of Joe defending Steve will become clear later and Joe now goes out to order a table for dinner. The world would seem to be in order.
Left alone, Chris tells Ann that he loves her to which she replies she has been waiting for him a long time. Joe comes in to tell Ann that her brother George is on the telephone, calling from Columbus. As soon as she has gone out, Chris tells his father that he and Ann are getting married. Joe appears not to react; he seems distracted and worried about Steve, who is in prison in Columbus. He wonders whether the case could be reopened and cause trouble for him again. All he ever wanted was a new start for Chris, to build him a house and to see his son's name over the factory. Chris is alarmed, but then Joe's self- confidence returns; he even starts making plans for the evening which will be the perfect moment to tell Kate about the forthcoming wedding. Ann returns and announces that her brother is coming.
Ann and Chris then go for a drive. Kate tells Joe in a warning tone that it seems strange that George, who is a lawyer now and who has never even sent a postcard to his father, should suddenly take a plane to visit him and then come here. Unable to admit how frightened he is, Joe replies that he does not care and goes into the house in a rage; Kate follows him stiffly, staring, seeing.
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