Though poor, the Lands scrape by on what Jeremiah earns and on what game he and Davy, who's a crack shot, can bring down. The book is narrated by Reuben, who wistfully wants to be an outdoorsman like Davy, strong and self sufficient, but is hindered by having severe asthma which has nearly finished him off several times. In fact, he nearly didn't survive his birth, not breathing for so long that the doctor had pronounced him dead. That is, until Jeremiah burst into the room and commanded baby Reuben to breathe "in the name of the living God". Reuben obediently does so, and is now perfectly healthy except for his lungs, even though the incredulous doctor said there was no way he couldn't have brain damage from being without oxygen for so long. This is the first of a number of 'miracles' as Reuben terms them, which his father apparently is responsible for; Reuben, awed and a little frightened, relates the others as they occur. Swede is a precocious youngster who is addicted to western dime novels and writes epic poems, always set in the old west.
The family is a close, loving one, living frugally but happily until events occur which shatter their lives. It all starts at the school, on the night of a football game. Davy's girlfriend Dolly plays clarinet in the school band so is at the game. Afterwards, about to leave with members of the band, she realizes she forgot her other shoes in the girls locker room and runs back to get them. While she's there, two boys come in after her. It is Israel Finch and Tommy Basca, the town bullies who just about everyone is afraid of; they used to be the school bullies until Finch attacked a teacher, putting him in the hospital, and was sent to reform school. While he was there, Basca dropped out of school and, when Israel returned from reform school quite unreformed, they took up their old ways, only now terrorizing the town instead of just the school. Dolly tries to fight them off but is overpowered; Tommy Basca holds her arms while Israel Finch slaps her and then rips open her sweater. It is at this point, however, that Jeremiah arrives on the scene. He had been cleaning the boys locker room and heard sounds of a struggle. He unscrews the mop handle to use as a weapon if necessary, and enters the room. Seeing what's occurring, Jeremiah knocks the two wannabe rapists away from Dolly and grimly proceeds to give them a thorough walloping with the mop handle, leaving them moaning on the floor while he takes Dolly home.
In a sane world, the violent perverts would be carted off to jail, but the one local police officer is too intimidated by these creeps to enforce the law, and Dolly's family is no doubt too afraid to press charges, knowing they'll get no police support. Nothing is done and, after the fact, a vengeful Finch seeks out Jeremiah to tell him that they'll be coming for his family. Jeremiah is concerned of course, but is actually more worried about Davy who is quietly simmering about what happened, furious that Finch and Basca are getting away with nothing but bruises and lumps for what they tried to do.