Purple Aesthetics

Celie is a poor 14-year-old African-American girl living in rural Georgia in the early 1900s. She writes letters to God because her father Alphonso beats and rapes her, resulting in two children, Olivia and Adam, that he abducts. A farmer identified as "Mister" asks to marry her younger sister Nettie, and Alphonso gives him Celie instead. Mister abuses Celie physically, sexually and verbally, and his prior children mistreat her as well. Soon afterward Nettie runs away and stays with Celie, but Mister makes advances toward her. Celie tells her to seek help from a well-dressed black woman she saw in town. Nettie promises to write but never does, and Celie concludes that she is dead.

Mister's son Harpo falls in love with an assertive girl named Sofia, gets her pregnant and marries her. Soon they have five children. Celie is impressed by Sofia's self-esteem and asks Harpo to treat her well, but Mister chides him for what he considers weakness. In a moment of envy, Celie tells Harpo to beat Sofia. Sofia fights back and confronts Celie, who apologizes and confides about Mister's abuse.

Mister takes in Shug Avery, a jazz and blues singer and Mister's long-time mistress, during an illness. Celie, who has been fascinated by photos of Shug that she found in Mister's belongings, is thrilled to have her there. Mister's father expresses disapproval of the arrangement, reminding Mister that Shug has three out-of-wedlock children, though Mister implies to him that he is those children's father, upon which Mister's father leaves in disgust. While Shug is initially rude to Celie, who has taken charge of nursing her, the two become friends, and Celie soon finds herself infatuated with Shug.

Frustrated by Harpo's domineering behavior, Sofia moves out, taking her children with her. Several months later, Harpo opens a juke joint where a fully recovered Shug performs nightly. Shug decides to stay when she learns that Mister beats Celie when she is away. Shug and Celie grow closer.

Sofia returns for a visit and promptly gets into a fight with Harpo's new girlfriend, Squeak, knocking Squeak's teeth out. She begins seeing a prizefighter, and while they are in town one day she has verbal spat with the mayor's wife, Miss Millie. The mayor and Sofia exchange blows, whereupon the police beat Sofia severely, leaving her disfigured and debilitated. She is subsequently sentenced to 12 years in prison. Squeak tries to blackmail her uncle, the sheriff, into releasing Sofia, but he refuses and rapes Squeak. Squeak cares for Sofia's children while she is incarcerated, and the two women develop a friendship. Sofia is eventually released and begins working for Miss Millie, which she detests.

Despite being newly married to a man called Grady, Shug instigates a sexual relationship with Celie on her next visit. One night Shug asks Celie about her sister, and Shug helps Celie recover letters from Nettie that Mister has been hiding from her for decades. The letters indicate that Nettie befriended a missionary couple, Samuel and Corrine, the well-dressed woman Celie saw in the store. Nettie eventually accompanied them to Africa to do missionary work, Samuel and Corrine having unwittingly adopted both Adam and Olivia. Corrine, noticing her adopted children resemble Nettie, wonders if Samuel fathered the children with Nettie. Increasingly suspicious, Corrine tries to limit Nettie's role in her family.

Through her letters, Nettie reveals she has become disillusioned with her missionary work. Corrine became ill with a fever, and Nettie asked Samuel to tell her how he adopted Olivia and Adam. Realizing Adam and Olivia are Celie's children, Nettie then learned Alphonso is actually her and Celie's stepfather. Their actual father was a store owner that white men lynched because they resented his success. She also learned their mother suffered a mental collapse after her husband's death and that Alphonso exploited the situation to control their mother's considerable wealth.

Nettie confesses to Samuel and Corrine she is the children's biological aunt. The gravely ill Corrine refuses to believe her until Nettie reminds her of her previous encounter with Celie in the store. Later, Corrine dies, finally having accepted Nettie's story. Meanwhile, Celie visits Alphonso, who confirms Nettie's story. Celie begins to lose some of her faith in God, which she confides to Shug, who explains to Celie her own unique religious philosophy. Shug helps Celie realize that God is not someone who has power over her like the rest of the men in Celie's life. Rather, God is an “it” and not a “who."

Having had enough of her husband's abuse, Celie decides to leave Mister along with Shug and Squeak, who is considering a singing career of her own. Celie puts a curse on Mister before leaving him for good, settling in Tennessee and supporting herself as a seamstress.

Alphonso dies, Celie inherits his land, and moves back into her childhood home. Around this time, Shug falls in love with Germaine, a member of her band, and this news crushes Celie. Shug travels with Germaine, all the while writing postcards to Celie. Celie pledges to love Shug even if Shug does not love her back.

Celie learns that Mister, suffering from a considerable decline in fortunes after Celie left him, has changed dramatically, and Celie begins to call him by his first name, Albert. Albert proposes that they marry "in the spirit as well as in the flesh," but Celie declines.

Meanwhile, Nettie and Samuel marry and prepare to return to America. Before they leave, Adam marries Tashi, an African girl. Following an African tradition, Tashi undergoes the painful rituals of female circumcision and facial scarring. In solidarity, Adam undergoes the same facial scarring ritual.

As Celie realizes that she is content in her life without Shug, Shug returns, having ended her relationship with Germaine. Nettie, Samuel, Olivia, Adam, and Tashi all arrive at Celie's house. Nettie and Celie reunite after 30 years and introduce one another to their respective families.