Phoenix Jackson, an elderly African American woman, is making her yearly pilgrimage to Natchez, Mississippi, to procure medicine for her young grandson, who swallowed lye a few years back. The journey is not easy, for she encounters wild animals, thick brush, a barbed-wire fence, a corn maze, a swamp, and other natural obstacles.
At one point she runs into a white hunter and his dog. He helps her get up after she had fallen down, but their encounter is still marked by racial tension.
Upon arriving in Natchez, Phoenix goes to the doctor’s office. A rude attendant assumes right away that she is a charity case and begins pestering her with questions. A nurse, though, recognizes Phoenix and tells her to sit and wait. She also asks how the grandson is doing, but Phoenix stares off into space and does not reply for a while. Finally, Phoenix snaps back to attention and says his throat still closes up and he has trouble swallowing. The nurse gives her the medicine and marks “Charity” in the log.
Before leaving, the attendant asks Phoenix if she might like a few pennies. She ends up giving her a nickel. Phoenix holds out this nickel and one she saw fall out of the hunter’s pocket, which she surreptitiously grabbed, and says she will buy her grandson a paper windmill for Christmas.
She then lifts her hand, nods, and heads laboriously down the stairs.
