This play is set in the
1950's on the Southside of Chicago. The Younger family is a poor black family
living in an old run-down apartment in a white neighborhood.
When Lena, the mother of Walter and Beneatha, wins
a lot of money, everyone is arguing over what to do with it. Walter
wants to use it to open a garage with his friends
Bobo and 'Willy', to get rich. Beneatha wants the money so she may go to
law school and become a lawyer. Lena decides to use a part of the insurance
money to buy a new house. She gives the rest of the money to Walter saying
that he should put $3,500 in an account for Beneatha so she can use it for
her education and he gets to put the remaining amount of money in an account
under his name to use any way he wants.
Beneatha brings home a new
friend who is from Nigeria and teaches her something about their African
roots. But Beneatha does not want to wear the
African dress he offers to her.
Meanwhile, a man named Lindner
shows up to talk about the house that Lena bought. It turns out that the
house is located in a neighborhood that does not want any black residents.
Lindner threatens the family to make them give
up moving into the new house. But they stay firm and send Lindner away, but
he leaves a card with his phone number on it, in case they change their mind.
As the family prepares to move into their new house, there is a horrid surprise:
Walter secretly used all the money (including the money for Beneatha's education)
in a deal to buy a garage. He gave the money to Willy, who gambled and lost it all. When Lena finds out that
the money is gone, she slaps Walter and faints.
With this new blow, the
family nearly gives up. Lena decides not to move out of the apartment, though
Ruth begs her to go through with the moving. In a final bid to fix his mistake,
Walter calls Lindner again to accept money from him for not moving into the
house. When Lindner arrives, Walter takes the money
and they stay together in their old flat, content with their situation.