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Plot summary

The main character, Macon "Milkman" Dead III, derives his nickname from the fact that he was breastfed for far too long. One of Milkman's father's tenants, Freddie, happens to see him through the window being breastfed by his mother. Milkman is so tall by now his feet are "touching the floor." He quickly gains a reputation for being a "Momma's boy" in direct contrast to his (future) best friend, Guitar, who is mother and fatherless.

Milkman has two sisters, "First Corinthians" and "Magdelene called Lena." The daughters of the family are named by putting a pin in the Bible, while the eldest son is named after his father. The first Macon Dead's name was the result of an administrative error when Milkman's grandfather had to register subsequent to the end of slavery.

Milkman's mother (Ruth Foster Dead) is the daughter of the town's only black doctor; she makes her husband feel inadequate, and it is clear she idolized her father, Doctor Foster, to the point of obsession. After her father dies, her husband claims to have found her in bed with the dead body, sucking his fingers. Ruth later tells Milkman that she was kneeling at her father's bedside kissing the only part of him that remained unaffected by the illness from which he died. These conflicting stories expose the problems between his parents and show Milkman that "truth" is difficult or impossible to obtain. Macon (Jr.) is often violently aggressive towards her out of frustration when she acts helpless, because he has worked hard to get to where he is, whereas Ruth has always been "daddy's little girl." On one occasion, Milkman punches his father after he strikes Milkman's mother, exposing the growing rift between father and son.

In contrast, Macon Dead Jr.'s sister, Pilate, is seen as nurturing—an Earth Mother character. Born without a navel, she is a somewhat mystical character. It is strongly implied that she is Divine—a female Christ (her name is ironic). Macon (Jr.) has not spoken to his sister for years and does not think highly of her. She, like Macon, has had to fend for herself from an early age after their father's murder, but she has dealt with her past in a different way than Macon, who has embraced money as his saving grace. She has one daughter, Reba, and a granddaughter named Hagar. Hagar falls desperately and obsessively in love with Milkman, and is unable to cope with his rejection, attempting to kill him at least six times. Guitar, Milkman's erstwhile best friend, tries to kill Milkman more than once after incorrectly suspecting he has cheated him out of hidden gold, a fortune he planned on using to help his Seven Days group fund their revenge killings in response to killings of blacks.

In searching for the gold near the old family farm, Milkman meets Circe, who tells of his family history which leads him to the town of Shalimar. There he learns his great-grandfather Solomon was said to have escaped slavery by flying back to Africa, leaving behind twenty-one children and his wife Ryna, who goes crazy with loss. Returning home, he learns that Hagar has died of a broken heart. He accompanies Pilate back to Shalimar, where she is accidentally shot and killed by Guitar, who had intended to kill Milkman.

The novel ends on a poignant and ambiguous note: after resolving to confront Guitar, Milkman learns to fly like The Flying African of African folklore, on a note that mirrors the initial flight of the novel, the insurance agent Robert Smith's suicide flight. Milkman realizes, with the novel's closing line, that "if you surrendered to the air, you could ride it."