Very Short Summary
Cincinnati, Ohio, 1873. A former slave woman lived in a house numbered 124 with her eighteen-year-old daughter. The house was haunted by the ghost of her dead baby.
Paul D, a fellow former slave from Sweet Home plantation, arrived at their house and drove out the baby ghost. Shortly after, a mysterious young woman appeared at their doorstep, calling herself Beloved – the name Sethe had carved on her dead baby's tombstone.
Through flashbacks, it was revealed that eighteen years ago, when Sethe escaped from slavery while pregnant with Denver, she had killed her older daughter to prevent her from being taken back into slavery. She had been found trying to kill her other children too, but was stopped. Paul D learned this history and left, unable to cope with it.
Beloved. You are my sister. You are my daughter. You are my face; you are me... You are my Beloved. You are mine. You are mine. You are mine. I have found you again; you have come back to me.
Beloved began to dominate the household, draining Sethe's physical and mental strength as she tried to explain and atone for her past actions. Denver, seeing her mother's deterioration, ventured out of the house for the first time in years to seek help. The community women gathered and exorcised Beloved from the house. When Mr. Bodwin, a white abolitionist, approached the house, Sethe mistook him for her former slave owner and tried to attack him, but was stopped. Beloved disappeared in the chaos. Paul D returned to Sethe, who was emotionally broken but alive, telling her she was her own best thing.
Detailed Summary by Parts
Part titles and their division into chapters are editorial.
Part One. Life at 124 Bluestone Road
The haunted house and Paul D's arrival
In 1873, the house at 124 Bluestone Road in Cincinnati was haunted by the angry spirit of a baby. The ghost tormented its inhabitants - Sethe and her daughter Denver - with supernatural disturbances, having already driven away Sethe's two sons. The arrival of Paul D, a fellow former slave from Sweet Home plantation, changed the dynamic of the household. He confronted and seemingly banished the baby ghost, moving in with Sethe and beginning a relationship with her.
Sweet Home memories and the escape
Through flashbacks, the story of Sweet Home plantation unfolded. Under the relatively benign ownership of Mr. Garner, Sethe arrived at Sweet Home as a young girl and married Halle, who worked extra to buy his mother Baby Suggs's freedom. After Garner's death, his wife brought in schoolteacher to run the plantation. His cruel and dehumanizing treatment of the slaves led them to plan an escape.
Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another. She had claimed herself. Freeing yourself was one thing; taking ownership of that freed self was another.
Beloved's arrival and identity
Shortly after Paul D's arrival, a mysterious young woman appeared at 124. She called herself Beloved - the same word Sethe had engraved on her dead baby's tombstone. Beloved exhibited strange behaviors and seemed to know things about Sethe's past that she couldn't have known. She began to dominate life at 124, becoming increasingly demanding of Sethe's attention and developing an antagonistic relationship with Paul D.
Anything dead coming back to life hurts... Anything coming back to life hurts. Now he knew why she had chosen death for her daughter over letting her return to the place of no love.
Part Two. The Past Unveiled
Sethe's terrible choice
Through a series of revelations, the full horror of Sethe's past emerged. After escaping from Sweet Home while pregnant, she had sent her three children ahead to Baby Suggs's house in Cincinnati. With the help of a white girl named Amy Denver, she gave birth to her daughter Denver during the journey and finally reached safety. However, when schoolteacher found them twenty-eight days later, Sethe made the devastating choice to kill her children rather than let them be taken back into slavery. She succeeded in killing only her eldest daughter before being stopped.
Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all... Too thick? Your love is too thick? What they know about it? They don't know what it is to be a mother. All they know is what they're scared of.
Paul D's imprisonment and escape
Paul D's own traumatic past was revealed through his memories. After the failed escape attempt at Sweet Home, during which Sixo was burned alive and Halle lost his sanity, Paul D was sold and eventually imprisoned in Alfred, Georgia. There, he and other prisoners were kept in boxes in the ground and subjected to brutal treatment. He escaped during a flood and made his way north, eventually reaching Cincinnati.
Beloved's growing power
As Beloved's presence grew more powerful, she began to dominate life at 124. She drove Paul D from the house through supernatural means, forcing him to sleep first in the rocker, then in Baby Suggs's room, then the cold house, and finally out of 124 altogether. Her relationship with Sethe became increasingly possessive and demanding, while Denver watched with growing concern.
Part Three. Exorcism and Healing
The women's intervention
As Beloved grew physically larger and more demanding, Sethe became increasingly diminished, spending all her resources trying to please her returned daughter. Denver, realizing that both her mother and sister were heading toward destruction, finally ventured out of 124 to seek help. She found work with the Bodwins, the white abolitionists who had helped Baby Suggs, and began to reconnect with the community.
Not a house in the country ain't packed to its rafters with some dead Negro's grief. We lucky this ghost is a baby. My husband's spirit was to come back in here? or yours? Don't talk to me. You lucky.
Beloved's disappearance and aftermath
The community women, led by Ella, gathered to exorcise Beloved from 124. As they approached the house singing, Sethe saw Mr. Bodwin coming to collect Denver and, mistaking him for schoolteacher returning, tried to attack him with an ice pick. In the chaos that followed, Beloved disappeared. Some said she exploded, others that she simply vanished. Her footprints by the stream remained for a time before they too faded away.
This is not a story to pass on... They forgot her like a bad dream. After they made up their tales, shaped and decorated them, those that saw her that day on the porch quickly and deliberately forgot her.
In the aftermath, Paul D returned to 124 to find Sethe bedridden and lost in memories. He reminded her that she was her own best thing, not her children. Despite the trauma they had endured, there was still possibility for healing and future together. The story ended with Paul D's reflection on their shared past and potential future.
She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.