Summary
The Road to Memphis begins in 1941 and the saga's narrator, Cassie Logan, is now 17 years old. While Cassie continues her education, her older brother Stacey has started working. He surprises the family with a brand new car, a '38 wine-colored Ford. The brand new car attracts unwanted attention from Charlie Simms who attempts to force Stacey to use his new car to pull his car out of a ditch. Jeremy Simms, a tentative friend of Stacey, is too afraid of his father to help deescalate the situation. Ultimately Stacey avoids damaging his car by pushing the car out manually.
Later, Cassie goes on a coon hunting trip with her brothers and their friends, Little Willie, Clarence, and Harris. While hunting, they run into Jeremy Simms and his cousins, the Aames brothers. Harris, one of Cassie's friends, is chased by Aames brothers' dogs until he suffers a broken leg and is knocked unconscious. Jeremy Simms tries apologizing but Stacey refuses to forgive him, thinking that Jeremy has indeed changed just as his father and uncle have long warned.
Cassie leaves for school in Jackson only to return in November for the funeral of Great Faith Church's preacher. At the funeral, Cassie learns that one of her friends, Sissy, is pregnant. Sissy refuses to reveal the identity of the child's father and teases that it may be anyone in Stacey's friend group. Sissy leaves the funeral and Cassie runs after her, trying to solve the mystery. Sissy confides in Cassie that she knows it is in fact Clarence, her lover, who is on an overnight pass from the Army and refuses to marry her. On Cassie's way back to the church, the Aames brothers driving along the road catcall and attempt to trap her along the road. David Logan gets to Cassie just in time and reminds Cassie that she cannot walk roads alone. When she gets back to the church, Cassie ultimately betrays Sissy and tells Clarence her plan. Clarence confronts Sissy and without resolution, catches a ride with Stacey and the rest of his friends. He asks Stacey to stop in the town of Strawberry for some BC Powder. While in Strawberry, Stacy must stop to make his car payments to Wade Jemison, a friendly white attorney and must also repair a low tire. As the group runs their errands, they once again encounter the Aames brothers, who claim Clarence has lost his manners since being in the Army. They demand Clarence let them rub his head for "good luck" and Clarence has no choice but obey. Later, as the group picks up Stacey's car from the garage and run into Sissy, Harris, Little Man, and Christopher-John, the Aames brothers attempt to subject Moe to the same embarrassing treatment. Moe snaps when the Aames brothers make more suggestive comments towards Cassie, hitting two of the brothers with a crowbar. The brothers threaten to lynch Moe. Jeremy, who had been accompanying his cousins, lets Moe hide in the back of his truck. To make up for the past, he agrees to drop Moe off in Jackson until the group can decide what to do next.
When Cassie, Stacey, Clarence, Little Willie, and cousin Oliver get to Jackson, Moe and Jeremy are nowhere to be found. Stacey tells Cassie to stay behind at the local restaurant while they look for Moe. Cassie encounters a man named Solomon Bradley, a lawyer, who she finds both attractive and challenging. Later, Moe and Jeremy are finally found. Mr. Jamison tells the group that Moe should leave Mississippi or face criminal offense charges. Stacey, Clarence, Little Willie, and Cassie decide to drive Moe to Memphis where he can take a train to Chicago.
On their way to Memphis, they stop at a rest stop and white men harass them. Cassie is also assaulted when caught using a whites only indoor restroom. Stacey must drive away in a hurry and in the process, the car breaks down in the forest. The group rests in the broken down car for the night. In the morning, they awake to find not only that white men at the rest stop made a gash in the side of Stacey's car, but that the Ford still will not start. Little Willie and Stacey go to look for a spare part while Moe and Cassie stay behind to look after an ailing Clarence. Moe, who has harbored a conspicuous crush on Cassie, kisses her. Soon after, men in the woods find them and assist them with getting a spare part for Stacey's car. Before they can continue their journey, Clarence begins screaming about the pain of his headache, running out of the car knocking himself unconscious. The area's white hospital refuses to admit him but they get help from a local Black woman who agrees to care for him while the rest of the group continues the journey.
Once they get to Memphis, they learn of the Attack on Pearl Harbor. As they wait in Memphis for a train and Stacey gets maintenance on the car, they stay at the home of Solomon Bradley. It turns out that Solomon Bradley also works for a newspaper. Cassie and Solomon's romance develops, which Moe discovers. When Moe finally gets a train ticket to Chicago, he tells Cassie what he did not get the chance to do in the woods: that he has loved her for a long time and he wanted to marry her after he gets a better education.
With Moe on his way to Chicago, Cassie, Stacey, and Little Willie return to Mississippi. They stop to pick up Clarence but learn that he has died from the headache, leaving behind a letter for Sissy. They go back to Mississippi broken-hearted, only to find more trouble. Harris is being arrested for suspicion that he helped Moe escape. Jeremy Simms eventually reveals that he was in fact the culprit and is disowned by his father for being a "nigger lover."
Later, the group attempts to tell Sissy that Clarence is dead but she refuses to believe it, crying and screaming in the woods. Stacey and Cassie go home. Jeremy comes over and tells Stacey he is sorry for his part in injuring Harris and that he is leaving Mississippi to join the army. He tells Stacy he will never forget him or the fun times they had as children. Stacey listens and forgives Jeremy. The next day, Stacey returns to Jackson, with Cassie following a day later. The story closes with the fact that they never see Jeremy again.
