Janie Crawford comes back to Eatonville after being gone for a while
Her grandma loves her very much so she is trying to find her somebody to marry so she can be safe with him
Janie's grandma finds this guy named Logan, she then moves in with him but is miserable as he isn't romantic with her and treats her very poorly
She meets this man called Joe Starks, who she flirts with secretly for a couple weeks until she ran away with him and marries him
Janie takes Joe to Eatonville where he succeeds in becoming mayor, postmaster, storekeeper, and biggest landlord in town
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After almost 20 years of marriage Janie had enough after Joe insulted her appearance and she went to the townspeople and told them how ugly and impotent he is. He then beat her for it.
The marriage breaks down and Joe becomes very ill, months later Janie visits his deathbed and still being angry at him she criticize him while he slowly dies.
She feels very free after but then she meets Tea Cake, a man who is 12 years younger and her feeling a spark of mutual attraction she starts dating him and 9 months later she marries him, selling Joe's store and moving away with him.
After the first week of their marriage, Tea Cake steals Janie's money and leaves her for a night and got her thinking if he only married her for her money.
He then comes and apologizes, they come to an agreement to share whatever thoughts and experiences with each other. They then move to the Everglades and live there.
2 years after their marriage a hurricane bursts through the Everglades, while trying to desperately trying to run away from the hurricane, Tea Cake gets bit by a rabid dog. They didn't know how bad it was until a couple weeks later when he got ill.
The rabies made him insane and made him think that Janie was cheating on him, he then starts trying to shoot her with a pistol and Janie has no choice but to kill him to save her own life.
She immediately gets put on trial for murder but the jury which was all-white and all-male find her not guilty. She then returns back to Eatonville where all her neighbors gossip and assume Tea Cake stole all her money and left her.
She goes to Phoeby, her friend, and tells her everything that happened to her while she was gone. Then back in her room she finally feels at peace with herself and one with Tea Cake.