Joe and Kate Keller had two sons, Chris and Larry. Keller owned a manufacturing plant with Steve Deever, and their families were close. Steve's daughter Ann was Larry's bae, and George was their friend. When the war came, both Keller boys and George were drafted.

During the war, Keller's and Deever's manufacturing plant had a very profitable contract with the U.S. Army, supplying airplane parts. One morning, a shipment of defective parts came in. Under pressure from the army to keep up the output, Steve Deever called Keller, who had not yet come into work that morning, to ask what he should do. Keller told Steve to weld the cracks in the airplane parts and ship them out. Steve was nervous about doing this alone, but Keller said that he had the flu and could not go into work. Steve shipped out the defective but possibly safe parts on his own.

Later, it was discovered that the defective parts caused twenty-one planes to crash and their pilots to die. Steve and Keller were arrested and convicted, but Keller managed to win an appeal and get his conviction overturned. He claimed that Steve did not call him and that he was completely unaware of the shipment. Keller went home free, while Steve remained in jail, shunned by his family.

Meanwhile, overseas, Larry received word about the first conviction. Racked with shame and grief, he wrote a letter to Ann telling her that she must not wait for him. Larry then went out to fly a mission, during which he broke out of formation and crashed his plane, killing himself. Larry was reported missing.

THUS WE BEGIN OUR TALE:

Three years later, the action of the play begins. Chris has invited Ann to the Keller house because he intends to propose to her--they have renewed their contact in the last few years while she has been living in New York. They must be careful, however, since Mother insists that Larry is still alive somewhere. Her belief is reinforced by the fact that Larry's memorial tree blew down in a storm that morning, which she sees as a positive sign. Her superstition has also led her to ask the neighbor to make a horoscope for Larry in order to determine whether the day he disappeared was an astrologically favorable day. Everyone else has accepted that Larry is not coming home, and Chris and Keller argue that Mother should learn to forget her other son. Mother demands that Keller in particular should believe that Larry is alive, because if he is not, then their son's blood is on Keller's hands.

Ann's brother George arrives to stop the wedding. He had gone to visit Steve in jail to tell him that his daughter was getting married, and then he left newly convinced that his father was innocent. He accuses Keller, who disarms George by being friendly and confident. George is reassured until Mother accidentally says that Keller has not been sick in fifteen years. Keller tries to cover her slip of the tongue by adding the exception of his flu during the war, but it is now too late. George is again convinced of Keller's guilt, but Chris tells him to leave the house.

Chris's confidence in his father's innocence is shaken, however, and in a confrontation with his parents, he is told by Mother that he must believe that Larry is alive. If Larry is dead, Mother claims, then it means that Keller killed him by shipping out those defective parts. Chris shouts angrily at his father, accusing him of being inhuman and a murderer, and he wonders aloud what he must do in response to this unpleasant new information about his family history.

Chris is disillusioned and devastated, and he runs off to be angry at his father in privacy. Mother tells Keller that he ought to volunteer to go to jail--if Chris wants him to. She also talks to Ann and continues insisting that Larry is alive. Ann is forced to show Mother the letter that Larry wrote to her before he died, which was essentially a suicide note. The note basically confirms Mother's belief that if Larry is dead, then Keller is responsible--not because Larry's plane had the defective parts, but because Larry killed himself in response to the family responsibility and shame due to the defective parts.

Mother begs Ann not to show the letter to her husband and son, but Ann does not comply. Chris returns and says that he is not going to send his father to jail, because that would accomplish nothing and his family practicality has finally overcome his idealism. He also says that he is going to leave and that Ann will not be going with him, because he fears that she will forever wordlessly ask him to turn his father in to the authorities.

Keller enters, and Mother is unable to prevent Chris from reading Larry's letter aloud. Keller now finally understands that in the eyes of Larry and in a symbolic moral sense, all the dead pilots were his sons. He says that he is going into the house to get a jacket, and then he will drive to the jail and turn himself in. But a moment later, a gunshot is heard--Keller has killed himself.

 Kate Keller (Mother) — A devoted mother, Kate still holds on to the possibility that her son Larry is alive. She believes that one day they will receive word that Larry was only wounded, perhaps in a coma, unidentified and maintains that Ann Deever, who returns for a visit at the request of Larry's brother Chris, is still "Larry's girl" and also believes that he is coming back.. Basically, she is waiting for a miracle to arrive. But there's something else about her character. She holds onto the belief that her son lives because if he perished during the war, then (she believes) her husband is responsible for her son's death.

Chris Keller — Chris, 32, returned home from World War II two years before the play begins, disturbed by the realization that the world was continuing as if nothing had happened. In many ways, Chris is the most admirable character in the play. He has invited Ann Deever to the Keller house in order to ask her hand in marriage, but they're faced with the obstacle of Kate's unreasonable conviction that Larry will someday return. Yet, he is very respectful about his brother's memory, as well as the conflicting feelings of his fiancé. Finally, Chris, like so many other young men, idealizes his father. His strong love for his father makes the revelation of Joe's guilt all the more heart-wrenching.

Ann Deever — Ann, 26, arrives at the Keller home having shunned her "guilty" father since his imprisonment. Throughout the play, Ann is often referred to as pretty, beautiful, and intelligent-looking . She had a relationship with Larry Keller before his disappearance, For months she hoped that he had survived. Gradually, she came to terms with Larry's death, eventually finding renewal and love in Larry's younger brother, Chris. She hopes that the Kellers will consent to her marriage to Larry's brother, Chris, with whom she has corresponded by mail. Ann soon finds out that the neighbors all believe that Joe is guilty, and eventually finds out the truth after a visit from her older brother George. Ann is the knowledge-bearer in the play: finally, unable to convince Kate that Larry is gone forever, Ann reveals a letter from Larry stating his intention to commit suicide having learned of his father’s implied guilt.

George Deever — George, 31, is Ann’s older brother: a successful New York lawyer and WWII veteran, and a childhood friend of Chris'. He initially believed in his father’s guilt, but upon visiting Steve in jail, realizes his innocence and becomes enraged at the Kellers for deceiving him. He returns to save his sister from her marriage to Chris, creating the catalyst that destroys the Keller family.

Dr. Jim Bayliss — Jim is a successful doctor, He is described as having a “wry humor” tinged with sadness, but is frustrated with the stifling domesticity of his life. He wants to become a medical researcher, but continues in his job since it pays the bills and his wife, Sue. He is a close friend and neighbor, having moved into the Deever’s old house, to the Keller family and spends a lot of time in their backyard. Jim embodies the disappointment and cynicism, but also the pragmatic resignation, that result from turning one’s back on one’s ideals.

Sue Bayliss — Sue is Jim's wife: A bitter, and blunt-spoken woman, she was instrumental in persuading her husband not to pursue his dream of doing medical research and to make money to support her and their family instead. She resents what she calls Chris’s phony idealism and she sees Chris's as a bad influence on Jim. Sue confronts Ann about her resentment of Chris in a particularly volatile scene, revealing to Ann that the neighbors all think Joe is guilty.

Frank Lubey — Frank, 33, was always one year ahead of the draft, so he never served in World War II, instead staying home to marry George's former highschool sweetheart, Lydia. He draws up Larry's horoscope for Kate since he is studying astronomy. This strengthens Kate's faith and makes it much harder for Ann to reveal the letter to her.

Lydia Lubey — Lydia, 27, was George's love interest before the war; after he went away, she married Frank and they quickly had three children. She is a model of peaceful domesticity and lends a much-needed cheerful air to several moments of the play.

Bert — Bert is a little boy who lives in the neighborhood; he is friends with the Bayliss' son Tommy and frequently visits the Kellers' yard to play "jail" with Joe. He only appears twice in the play. The first time he appears, his part seems relatively unimportant, but the second time he appears his character gets more important as he sparks a verbal attack from mother when mentioning "jail," which highlights Joe's secret.

Larry Keller —Larry has been MIA for some years at the start of the play. However he has a significant effect in the play through his mother's insistence that he is still alive and his brother's love for Larry's childhood sweetheart, Ann. Comparisons are also made in the story between Larry and Chris; in particular, their father describes Larry as the more sensible one with a "head for business". At the end of the play, Ann reveals a letter written by Larry saying that, out of his feeling of disgust and disappointment towards his father actions, he intends to commit suicide. Perhaps life was no longer worth living because of the shame and anger he felt.

Steve Deever — George and Ann's father. He is still in prison as a result of being wrongly blamed by Joe Keller for shipping out the faulty parts and causing the death of twenty-one pilots. His daughter Ann and son George have cut off all contact with him in disapproval of his supposed crime. When the play opens, however, George has recently visited Steve in prison and has become convinced of his version of events, the truth.