After a month in the Weedpatch camp, food and work are running low. Sad to leave, Ma decides that the Joads must depart in search of more work. Pa is angry at being overruled by a woman, but his position is now symbolic and Ma figures that his anger is a good sign - a sign that he may yet still fight.

The family get work picking peaches on the Hooper ranch. A whole day's work gets them a dollar, which is barely enough to feed them that day.

Tom meets Jim Casy, who is back from jail and organizing strikes against the treatment of migrants. As they talk, men approach and kill Casy with a pick-axe for stirring trouble. In retaliation, Tom kills one man, but is injured before he gets away.

The wage drops the next day to half. Tom must hide so his broken nose doesn't give him away to the authorities. The family leave to pick cotton on another farm, and move to live in a boxcar. Tom must hide in a culvert till he heals. The family sneak him food.