Inherit the Wind begins on a hot summer day in Hillsboro, a small town in middle America. The time is “not too long ago” (14). Outside the courthouse, Howard, a 13-year-old boy, meets Melinda, a girl around his age. Howard is going fishing and is looking for worms to use as bait. He shows one to Melinda. Melinda is disgusted, but Howard says not to be afraid, because humans were once worms. When she protests, he tells her that her father is a monkey. Melinda tells Howard that what he has said is sinful. They part ways. 

Rachel, the daughter of the town’s reverend, enters the courthouse and asks the bailiff, Mr. Meeker, if she can Bert Cates. Meeker does not want to let Rachel into the jail as it is not a “proper place for a minister’s daughter” (21), so he goes to fetch Bert. Bert is on trial for teaching his students about Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, which is against the law. When Meeker returns with Bert, Rachel gives Bert some clean clothes that she has brought from his house. Rachel asks Bert why he doesn’t just say that he didn’t mean to break the law and promise not to do it again.