
            Rural Louisiana, 1933. Its twilight. A father is walking across open grassland with his son and a hound dog. The father, Nathan Lee/ Nathan (Paul Winfield), is carrying a rifle; the boy, David Lee/ David (Kevin Hooks in his first feature), holds a lantern. Soon its night. The dog spots a raccoon and gives chase. Nathan and David try to keep up, calling the dog's name. Sounder chases the raccoon through fields, underbrush, and finally up a tree. Nathan and David catch up, clearly savoring a meal for the night. Nathan raises his rifle and shoots. He misses and the raccoon escapes. He blames himself for not killing the raccoon.They return to an old dilapidated cabin. Rebecca (Cicely Tyson), Nathan's wife and David's mother, is waiting for them. Nathan tells Rebecca they lost the 'coon. She says nothing.Nathan tells David that since he had a tough night, don't go to school the next day. David replies, 'But I want to go to school.'
David, who is about twelve or thirteen, is sent to bed. Rebecca notices that before he went to sleep, he ate half a bowl of walnuts that she picked for trading. Nathan: 'The boy is hungry, Rebecca'.Rebecca goes to bed and calls for Nathan. Silence.The next morning David and his younger brother and sister wake up to the smell of meat cooking on the stove. 'Where'd it come from?' Neither Rebecca nor Nathan respond, but they enjoy the breakfast.
Rebecca washes clothes for a local white woman, Miss Boatwright (Carmen Matthews). David, his brother and sister deliver the laundry to Miss Boatwright. She pays for the laundry and gives David a copy of the Three Musketeers. 'When you're finished reading it, we'll talk about it, y'hear.'
Nathan is pitching at a softball game. All his family is watching. He gets the final out and wins the game for his team. Ecstatic, the family returns home. The local sheriff (James Best) is in their cabin. He emerges with a side of meat.
Nathan is handcuffed in front of his wife and children. He is pushed into the back of a pickup truck with a deputy and the truck drives away.
Growling, Sounder takes off after the truck. The deputy seated next to Nathan raises his rifle. Nathan attempts to kick the rifle out of the deputy's hand. The gun goes off. Sounder is hit and disappears into high grass. David gives chase but can't find him.
Rebecca tries to visit Nathan in jail. The sheriff won't allow it. Visitors only on Sundays and holidays; women, never.
Rebecca is in the grocery store. She barters walnuts for groceries. The store owner is Mr. Perkins (Ted Airhart), who also owns the land the family works on. Perkins lambastes Rebecca for what Nathan did-namely, making him, Perkins, look bad. In addition, who's going to sharecrop for him if Nathan is in jail?It's Nathan's sentencing. Though Nathan's family are the only spectator's in the courtroom, they are seated at the back. Nathan Lee Morgan is found guilty of 'unlawful trespass and robbery' and sentenced to one year of hard labor. The camp where he is to serve his sentence is not mentioned. Flanked by two white deputies, Nathan is whisked out of the courtroom. No goodbye, no contact at all is allowed with his family.
Life goes on. The children are helping Rebecca with the laundry, and David continues to look for Sounder.
Rebecca and the children go to the station to see Nathan. Rebecca sends David in with a chocolate cake and instructs him to find out what camp Nathan will be sent to.David sees Nathan behind bars. They are both happy to see each other. David hands his Daddy the cake through the bars. They eat and talk. Then Nathan says he doesn't want them to come and visit anymore.Rebecca and the children work the fields. David reads The Three Musketeers to his brother and sister.One Sunday two friends are at Rebecca's home after church, for a meal. Ike (Taj Mahal) is playing the resonator guitar and Harriet (Sylvia 'Kuumba' Williams) starts dancing. The pastor arrives. He had been down to the courthouse, but the police didn't tell him 'nothing' about what camp Nathan was taken to. He warns Rebecca not to be bitter, but, like he's said to other women with similar 'misery or trials,' take it to God.
David is working the fields and hears a dog whimpering. Sounder returns.David drops off another load of clean laundry to Miss Boatwright's house. He asks if she can find out what camp his Daddy was sent to. Miss Boatwright: The courthouse has rules about things like that, but I'll ask around town about it. David is unconvinced: I'll see you tomorrow, Miss Boatwright. Miss. Boatwright: I'll find out where your Daddy is for you...
goes through the sheriff's files, but the sheriff returns and catches her.Miss Boatwright asks the sheriff where Nathan is being held. He refuses to tell her. He leaves the room to answer a telephone call. David appears. Miss Boatwright
Miss Boatwright leaves. David suspects that she saw where his father is being held. She denies it.Miss Boatwright turns up at the Morgan's home. 'The camp where Nathan is being held is called Wishbone Labor camp...' She sits with Rebecca and the children and attempts to find the camp on a map.David sets out with Sounder and a map to find his Daddy.After traveling a great distance, through heat and rain, through fields and across creeks, he comes across a group of black prisoners and their guards. He asks a guard if he knows his father, Nathan Lee Morgan. The guard replies 'Never heard of him, boy.'
Through a fence, David asks a group of prisoners if they've heard of his father. A guard overhears David. He raises his billy club and brings it down hard on David's hand. David flees, Sounder in tow.David gets lost and comes across a schoolhouse with black children and a black teacher. The teacher, Camille Johnson (Janet McLaughlin), invites him in. He asks her if he can wash the blood off his hand. Miss Johnson invites him to stay for class, and invites him to her home afterwards for a hot meal, 'then we can talk about how we can get you back home.'At Miss Johnson's home, David notices her many books. She shows him books on Harriet Tubman and Crispus Attucks, and reads from a work by W.E.B. DuBois. David listens attentively. When she's finished, he smiles: You're a nice lady, Miss Johnson.The following day David attends Miss Johnson's class. A student, Clarence, tells a story about saving his sister from drowning. Another student says he doesn't believe the story because Clarence can't swim. David says he believes Clarence's story, because his family, like Clarence, had to do what seemed impossible to survive, simply because they had to do it. They had no choice.That evening Miss Johnson tells David that she believed Clarence's story as well. When he confides in her that he believes he's failed for not finding his Daddy, she encourages him not to think that way. Not many little boys could have done what you've done, she tells him. David asks if he can come back and study with the other children.David returns home with books Miss Johnson gave him. He tells his Mama about Miss Johnson's offer to teach him at her school. Rebecca replies: 'Who's going to help on the farm? Well, maybe by that time your Daddy'll be back -if it's all right with him it's all right with me.'
Rebecca is on the porch, sewing. Sounder is lying under the porch. Suddenly he springs to his feet and slowly walks out to the front yard, barking. In the distance a solitary figure approaches on foot. Sounder scampers towards the figure. Nathan hobbles on one crutch. The family rushes to meet him. He throws down the crutch and embraces them. 'What happened to your leg, Daddy?' David asks. Dynamite blast. 'When I wasn't no more use to them, they took some time off my sentence and let me come home.'Nathan is hit by a piece of machinery while working the field. He collapses and needs time to get back to his feet.Ike shows up with a letter. Mr. Perkins told him to bring it over. It's from Miss Johnson for David. If he's going to come to her school, he should be there in about a week. David tells his Daddy he doesn't want to go, 'Daddy, you just got home. I wanna stay home and be with you.' Nathan replies, 'I wanna be with you too, but school is something you need, something's good for you, like good air to breathe. And I want you to have it. And that's the way it's gonna be.' David defiantly refuses to go and runs away. Rebecca chides Nathan for being rough with David. Nathan goes after David. They meet at a nearby creek.Nathan tells David of the accident at the labor camp, and his determination to survive and return to his family. He says: 'I'm gonna beat this trouble in my leg. That's what I want you to do. I want you to beat the life they got laid out for you in this place. Son, don't get too used to this place, cause wherever you is I'm gon' love you...'
    

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