The Good Earth

Wang Lung prepares for his wedding day, fetching water and dreaming of his bride. He collects O-lan from the House of Hwang and brings her home.

O-lan proves her value in the fields and household. She gives birth to the first son without complaint while Wang Lung continues working.

Wang Lung visits the declining House of Hwang and sees the family's decay firsthand. He senses an opportunity to buy land.

Drought strikes. The crops fail. The family slowly starves while Wang Lung refuses to sell his land.

The family travels south to a great city, where they beg and Wang Lung pulls a rickshaw. They live in a mat shed on the city's edge.

A revolutionary mob storms the city's wealthy quarter. O-lan seizes jewels from a rich man's room. Wang Lung uses the jewels to buy land from the House of Hwang.

Back on their land, the family thrives. Wang Lung acquires more land and hires laborers. His wealth grows faster than his wisdom.

Wang Lung visits the tea house and falls obsessively in love with Lotus, a beautiful courtesan. He begins neglecting his land and family.

Lotus moves into the house. Wang Lung takes the two pearls from O-lan to give to Lotus. O-lan's humiliation is complete and silent.

Wang Lung moves his family into the old House of Hwang. His uncle's family becomes a burden. Wang Lung's status is now the equal of those who once owned O-lan.

Wang Lung's sons are educated and grow increasingly distant from the land. Each son develops along a different axis of Chinese modernity: land, commerce, violence.

O-lan sickens and slowly dies. Wang Lung, finally understanding what he has lost, sits beside her at the end. She asks only that her sons remember to sweep her grave.