After being released from an Okalahoma state prison after having served four years for a manslaughter conviction, Tom Joad makes his way back to his family's farm in Oklahoma. He meets Jim Casy, who was a former preacher who has given up his calling out of a belief that all life is holy. Jim accompanies Tom to his home, only to find it and all the surrounding farms deserted. Muley Graves, an old neighbor, wanders by and tells them that everyone has been "tractored" off the land. Most families, he says, including his own, have headed to California to look for work. The next morning, Tom and…
