In Sevier County, Tennessee, a crowd gathers for the auction of Lester Ballard’s farm, which the state has seized. Lester is a small, unkempt man of “Saxon and Celtic bloods” (11) that the narrator states may be much like the reader. The only surviving member of his family, Lester has lived on the farm his entire life.

The auctioneer has arranged a band, a lemonade stand, and a giveaway of silver dollars to draw a crowd. Lester lurks nearby in the barn, where there hangs the rope that his father used to die by suicide.

The auctioneer begins his pitch: The land, full of young timber, is a good investment for the future and the best in the county. As the auctioneer’s voice echoes through the valley, it takes on an unearthly, ghostly quality.

Lester emerges from the barn with his rifle and confronts the auctioneer. The auctioneer warns Lester that the sheriff, Fate Turner, is present and that Lester’s continued harassment will land him in a psychiatric hospital. He goads Lester to use the rifle.

The scene continues in the next section, in which the narration switches from the third person to an anonymous first-person narrator. Throughout Part I, the narration periodically switches to unnamed residents of Sevier County, who recount stories of Lester.