Beloved is set in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1873. Sethe, a former slave, lives with her daughter, Denver. Her mother-in-law lived with them until her death 8 years earlier. Sethe also has two sons, Howard and Buglar, who ran away because of the presence of the ghost of their dead baby sister, who had haunted the house for years. Denver, however, enjoyed the presence of the ghost.
The story begins with the arrival of another former slave from Sweet Home, Paul D. Sethe's husband from Sweet Home, Halle, disappeared the night they were supposed to escape many years ago and hasn't been seen by anyone since. Sethe had escaped alone with her three children, and pregnant with another, and had just been whipped by "the schoolteacher" within an inch of her life. The three children were sent ahead to live with Baby Suggs, whose freedom had already been bought by Halle. After only 28 days at her new home in the North, the schoolteacher finds Sethe and her children and is determined to return them to Sweet Home. Doing what in her mind is protecting her children from the abuse she dealt with all her life as a slave, Sethe murders her third child, the older daughter, with a handsaw. Sethe is taken to jail but a group of abolitionists soon secures her release.
Upon moving in, Paul D. chases the spirit of the dead girl away, making Denver resent him right from the beginning. One day, upon their return from the carnival, they discover a young woman sitting on their front porch. They later come to realize she is the embodied spirit of the dead child. She calls herself Beloved, which was the only thing engraved on Sethe's child's gravestone. Denver is obsessively attached to her, and Beloved in turn with Sethe. Eventually she drives Paul D., who she sees as an intruder on Sethe's time with her, out of the house. After Paul moves to the cellar of a nearby church Beloved becomes more and more possessive, manipulative, and parasitic. Sethe is determined to make Beloved understand why she murdered her, and wastes away as she does everything to satisfy Beloved's demands, while Denver is excluded and ignores, meanwhile working to provide food for her family.
Finally Denver admits what is going on to the community that ignored and held her family in disdain for years. Under the leadership of Ella, a worker of the Underground Railroad who helped Sethe escape all those years ago, the community comes together to exorcise Beloved for good. At the same time they arrive, Mr. Bodwin arrives to take Denver to her new job. Sethe mistakes him for the schoolteacher and tries to murder him but is restrained by Denver. In the resulting confusion, Beloved disappears and never returns. Eventually the town, and even Sethe and her family, forget Beloved, almost like a dream or something that had never been.
The story begins with the arrival of another former slave from Sweet Home, Paul D. Sethe's husband from Sweet Home, Halle, disappeared the night they were supposed to escape many years ago and hasn't been seen by anyone since. Sethe had escaped alone with her three children, and pregnant with another, and had just been whipped by "the schoolteacher" within an inch of her life. The three children were sent ahead to live with Baby Suggs, whose freedom had already been bought by Halle. After only 28 days at her new home in the North, the schoolteacher finds Sethe and her children and is determined to return them to Sweet Home. Doing what in her mind is protecting her children from the abuse she dealt with all her life as a slave, Sethe murders her third child, the older daughter, with a handsaw. Sethe is taken to jail but a group of abolitionists soon secures her release.
Upon moving in, Paul D. chases the spirit of the dead girl away, making Denver resent him right from the beginning. One day, upon their return from the carnival, they discover a young woman sitting on their front porch. They later come to realize she is the embodied spirit of the dead child. She calls herself Beloved, which was the only thing engraved on Sethe's child's gravestone. Denver is obsessively attached to her, and Beloved in turn with Sethe. Eventually she drives Paul D., who she sees as an intruder on Sethe's time with her, out of the house. After Paul moves to the cellar of a nearby church Beloved becomes more and more possessive, manipulative, and parasitic. Sethe is determined to make Beloved understand why she murdered her, and wastes away as she does everything to satisfy Beloved's demands, while Denver is excluded and ignores, meanwhile working to provide food for her family.
Finally Denver admits what is going on to the community that ignored and held her family in disdain for years. Under the leadership of Ella, a worker of the Underground Railroad who helped Sethe escape all those years ago, the community comes together to exorcise Beloved for good. At the same time they arrive, Mr. Bodwin arrives to take Denver to her new job. Sethe mistakes him for the schoolteacher and tries to murder him but is restrained by Denver. In the resulting confusion, Beloved disappears and never returns. Eventually the town, and even Sethe and her family, forget Beloved, almost like a dream or something that had never been.