Rather than saying that Tom hit the police officer, Jim said it was he who did it and got arrested for it. We later met Mr. Casy again, but this time he figured out how to organize his thoughts in ways people would understand. He was making labor unions and striking for better wages, but this is not without a downfall. Jim was killed by a police officer in a skirmish.
Plot: The plot begins when we first meet Tom. He was walking down a road when he meets a trucker at a roadside restaurant. Even though the trucker has a sticker to discourage hitchhikers, he gives Tom a lift to the road where his family, the Joads, lives. While walking down the road, Tom meets up with Jim Casy, the preacher that baptized him. They exchange stories; Tom explains that he went to jail for killing a man with a shovel in self-defense while Jim elaborates on why he gave up on preaching, being sexually immoral with young girls.
When they get to Tom's house, they run into Muley Graves, a neighbor. Through him they find out that the Joads went to Uncle John's house because they were driven off the land by a "cat", or a tractor that basically pushs broke farmers and their families off their land. That night they decide to stay, but soon after a police car comes looking for trespassers, and they run to a cave to stay the night. Tom is not too fond of this idea, having to hide from cops because they are trespassing on their own land, so he sleeps in the wide open space, just outside the cave. The next day Tom, Jim, and Muley all decide to go to Uncle John's, which is where they meet the rest of the Joad clan. Tom finds out that they are all planning to go to California, a move planned out completely and carefully by Pa Joad.
As Tom is conversing with everyone in his family, the same idea is all in their mind. They are concerned that he broke out of jail, when really he got out on parole. Moreover, Tom finds out that his sister, Rose of Sharon, is married to a guy named Connie and is pregnant.