returns to the tree. Joe’s wife, Kate, doesn’t believe that Larry is dead and has been holding on to hope that he will return; in fact, she sees the tree blowing over as a sign he will return. Chris doesn’t believe this belief is healthy and threatens to leave the family and the family business if Joe doesn’t help him. He is in love with Ann and is planning on proposing to her. Joe worries what this will do to his wife:

She thinks he's coming back, Chris. You marry that girl and you're pronouncing him dead. Now what's going to happen to Mother. Do you know? I don't

We learn that Anne’s family is connected to the Keller family in more ways than just her relationships with their sons. Her father, Steve, and Joe were in business together. During the war, they made money shipping cylinders for fighter plans. Joe and Steve were charged with shipping cracked cylinders that resulted in the deaths of American fighter pilots, fighter pilots like Larry. After the case, Joe was found innocent, but Anne’s father has been found guilty and has been in prison ever since.

Chris tries to announce their engagement, but it is interrupted by a phone call from her brother, George. We only hear her side of the conversation, but he’s excited about something and is coming to town to tell her some news. Joe and Kate worry it’s about the case and that he’ll try and reopen the case against him.

Act 2 opens later that night with Chris chopping down the rest of Larry’s tree. His neighbor Sue tells him and Ann that they should get married and move away quickly because everyone still thinks Joe is guilty. Chris promises Ann that his father is not. When George arrives, he expresses how upset he is that Ann would consider marrying into the Keller family; he believes it is Joe’s fault that their father is in prison and that their family was destroyed. He tells them that Joe tried to cover up the whole thing. He only turned his back on his father because Chris believed so much in Joe’s innocence, but now he thinks he knows the real truth and wants to take Ann home.

Joe invites George to dinner and they try to carry on a peaceful conversation. Joe offers Steve a job, but George says he wouldn’t take it since he dislikes Joe so much. During the conversations, Kate mentions Joe hasn’t been sick in 15 years. George is quick to point out that this was the defense that cleared his name; Joe swore he was homesick and not in the office when the order to send the crack cylinders went out.

Angry, Chris and Ann tell George to go. Chris tells his mom that he is going to marry Ann, but she still cannot accept it. If he’s dead, then her husband had a role in it. She tells Joe, “As long as you live, that boy is alive. God does not let a son be killed by his father. Now you see, don't you? Now you see.” Chris realizes his father’s guilt, and the act ends as Chris leaves.

Act 3 is the middle of the night of the same day. Chris is missing and Kate is worried. Jim admits he’s always known about Joe’s guilt but tries to comfort Kate telling her it will all work out:

Oh, no, he'll come back. We all come back, Kate. These private little revolutions always die. The compromise is always made

Ann tries to get Kate to admit that Larry is dead so that she can get on with her life: “You had two sons. But you've only got one now.” Kate gets upset and refuses.

As she leaves, Chris returns and apologizes to Ann. He had suspicions that his dad was guilty, but never did anything about them: “I'm yellow. I was made yellow in this house because I suspected my father and I did nothing about it.” Joe tries to defend himself; he was only trying to make a living for the family. Ann produces a letter Larry sent her. He heard about the plane crashes caused by his dad. He tells her that he plans to shoot himself.

Joe agrees to turn himself in and goes back into the house. Kate wants her son to leave it alone, but Chris wants his dad to learn the consequences of his actions. Then a gunshot is heard off stage. Chris checks on it and reports that his father has committed suicide. He tells Kate, “Mother, I didn't mean to,” but she comforts him and tells him not to blame himself.