Nel's family life is very stable. This is in stark contrast to Sula Peace's upbringing. While she's young, Sula lives with her mother and her grandmother. Both these woman are seen as being "loose- in the community due to various affairs they have with different men. They frequently have borders and adopted children living in their home as well. .
Despite dramatic differences in their family lives and childhood, Nel Wright and Sula Peace bond over their mutual feelings of "distant mothers and incomprehensible fathers- (Morrision 52) when they are twelve. Their friendship has a sister-like quality and the two soon become inseparable. One day, they play a role in a tragic event that changes their friendship and perceptions of each other forever. They are playing down by the river with a local boy named Chicken Little. Sula picks him up by his arms and swings him around. Chicken Little loses grip and is flung into the river and drowns. Nel and Sula don't tell anyone about the accident and Chicken's body is found later that afternoon by a bargeman. Following the incident, Sula and Nel begin to grow apart. .
A year later, Sula's mother Hannah burns to death when her skirt catches on fire while lighting the yard fire outside their house. Sula's grandmother Eva desperately tries to rescue her daughter by throwing herself out of a second story window although her effort is in vain. Neighbors douse Hannah with water but the burns are too severe and she dies. Afterwards, it is rumored that Sula simply stood and watched her mother burn with no effort to help her.
Four years later, a romantic relationship develops between Nel and Jude Greene, a boy that attended school with both Nel and Sula. They get married and a high society wedding and reception is held. Sula serves as a bridesmaid and assists Nel's mom in planning. Sula leaves "The Bottom- without saying goodbye to Nel following the reception. She returns ten years later.