Summary:

The story takes place in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. A young girl named Scout lives with her older brother Jem and widowed Father Atticus. The town is suffereing through the Great Depression, but Atticus is a successful lawyer, so the Finch family is doing better compared to the rest of the town. Over the summer Jem and Scout become friends with a young boy named Dill, and three children act out stories together. Dill becomes intensely intrigued with the Radley Place, which is next door to Jem and Scout. The brother of the owner, named Boo Radley, has not been outside in over three years, and the children have begun to make up stories about him.

That fall Scout goes to school for the first time and dispisses it. The two children begin to find gifts left for them in a key hole in a tree between their property and the Radleys. The gifts keep appearing troughout the year, and the children try to sneak onto the Radley property to get a better look at Boo. They are shot at and chased off by Nathan Radley.

In the midst of the children's antics, Atticus has decided to take on the case of a black man accused of raping a white woman. The town is very racist, and the tension rises. At the trial, Atticus provides clear evidence that the accused is innocent, however with an all white jury he is still found guilty. He tries to escape from prison, but is killed in the process. The victim's father swears revenge on Atticus for making him look like a fool.

He follows through with his threat by attacking Jem and Scout on their way home from a Halloween party. Lucky for the children, Boo Radley shows up and gets them out of harms way.

The children are saved, and both have a new outlook and respect for life.