Go Tell It on the Mountain has a nonlinear structure. The story takes place during one twenty-four hour period, but contains extended flashbacks which cover a period of over 70 years. The novel is focused on John Grimes, but narrative voice shifts between characters' perspectives, allowing access to the thoughts and reminiscences of John's father, mother, and aunt.[11] The novel is divided into three parts : "Part One: The Seventh Day", "Part Two: The Prayer of the Saints" (divided into parts for Florence, Gabriel, and Elizabeth), and "Part Three: The Threshing-Floor". The first and final parts mainly follow John's thoughts with glimpses of the thoughts of others, while the sections in Part Two mainly follow the thoughts of the character for whom they are named.
Part One
In Part One, John wakes up on his birthday. He sits down for breakfast, expecting something special from his mother. However, he is met with the regular breakfast that is served regularly in the household. His mother then sends him off to do his daily chores like any other day. As he does his chores, he thinks about his relationship with his domineering father, who does not seem to love him, and seems to have much hatred towards John. He also begins to think about his relationship with the storefront church at which his father is a sometimes preacher. The church is a major part in the life of John’s family. His family is extremely religious and spends a lot of their time at and supporting the church. All of the members of the Grimes family are very intertwined within the church. His younger half-brother Roy also resents his father's strictness, but unlike John has begun to rebel by running with a rough crowd. The rebellion against his father leaves a lot of anger within Gabriel and builds upon the constant thought of their father not loving them. Once John has finished his chores, his mother Elizabeth gives him some money for his birthday, and he goes out. He walks through Central Park and down Fifth Avenue, before going into a movie theater to watch a film.
John returns home to find that Roy has gone with some neighborhood boys to pick a fight and has been cut with a knife. John's stepfather Gabriel returns home. Gabriel is angry. He lashes out and looks for someone to blame besides Roy. Gabriel ultimately ends up putting the blame onto Elizabeth and Gabriel’s own sister, Florence, who was in the house with the family at the time. Gabriel's sister Florence and Elizabeth object that no one is to blame but Roy since he went out to pick the fight. Gabriel strikes Elizabeth causing Roy to challenge and curse him. Gabriel takes immense disrespect from Roy and will not settle for it. He decides that as his father, he must do something to Roy because he believes Roy is in no place to challenge Gabriel and question his authority over him. Gabriel whips Roy with a belt until Florence intervenes. Gabriel does not appreciate Florence intervening and talks down to her. John then goes to the church to do chores before evening services. Elisha, an older boy in the church arrives to help and the two exchange playful barbs and then playfully wrestle. The two then finish cleaning the church while talking about John's soul and salvation. Two women arrive followed shortly by John's father, mother, and aunt Florence.
Part Two
Florence's Prayer
Florence recalls her childhood with Gabriel and their mother, a former slave. She recalls her devout mother leading them in prayer after the rape of a girl, Deborah, by a group of white men. She resented that just because Gabriel was a boy, her mother always put his future ahead of hers even though she was much better behaved. Florence eventually left home despite her mother's illness to go north to New York where she met Frank, whom she married. The marriage was not happy as Frank drank and was irresponsible with money, both buying her extravagant gifts and spending on binges. He eventually left her for another woman and died in France in World War I.
Gabriel's Prayer
Gabriel also recalls his wild youth, which ended after Florence left when he was saved at 22. He stopped drinking and debauching and became a preacher. Deborah, whom no one would marry because she had been raped, supports him and helps him after his mother dies and Gabriel asks her to marry him. Back in the church, Gabriel hears a cry of praise and worries that John is being visited by the Holy Spirit. He resents that his two natural sons have not been saved and worries that John, who is not his biological son, will be saved. These thoughts lead him to his affair with a woman named Esther, who subsequently became pregnant and died giving birth to his son, Royal. Royal was raised by Esther's mother and Gabriel never acknowledged him and worried that Deborah would learn the truth. Later, during a period of racial tensions after a black soldier has been lynched, Gabriel encountered Royal walking home and warned him to be careful. Later, Deborah tells Gabriel that Royal left for Chicago where he was killed in a knife fight. Deborah confronts Gabriel, who admits that Royal was his son and Deborah tells him he should pray for forgiveness. Seeing John, Gabriel recalls that he had believed that meeting and marrying Elizabeth was a sign that God had forgiven him.
Elizabeth's Prayer
Elizabeth recalls how after the death of her distant mother, her aunt took her away from her father, whom she loved, because he ran a brothel. Elizabeth resented her and she was never loving. Later Elizabeth fell in love with a store clerk, Richard. The two ran away to New York together. Although they were not married, Elizabeth became pregnant but did not tell Richard right away. Before she told him, he was wrongfully arrested for theft. He refused to confess and was brutally beaten by the police. After he was eventually acquitted and returned home, she decided not to tell him she was pregnant that night, but by morning he had killed himself. After thinking of Richard, she looks at John and wonders if she did the right thing to keep him rather than give him for adoption, and to marry Gabriel who has never loved John. She recalls how she met Florence at her job as a cleaning woman and Florence introduced her to her brother Gabriel, now a widower who recently came north. Although Florence discourages the romance, Elizabeth respects Gabriel's religiosity and believes Gabriel will offer protection and stability for herself and John and agrees to marry him. Her thoughts return to the present and she sees John lying on the floor of the church overcome by a religious vision.
Part Three
John experiences a series of hallucinatory religious visions in which he confronts many of his sins, hopes, and doubts. He sees his father's face and recalls that he has seen his father naked and compares himself to the story of Ham who saw his father Noah naked and was forever cursed - a story which was long used to justify slavery and oppression of black people. After further visions, John sees a glimpse of God and feels himself saved. He returns to consciousness and realizes that it is morning and he has been there all night. All are happy for him except Gabriel who seems unconvinced. The group leaves the church to walk home and Florence, who is terminally ill, confronts Gabriel with a letter from Deborah which reveals her suspicions that Gabriel had fathered a son with Esther. Florence accuses Gabriel of making John and Elizabeth suffer to expiate his own guilt for his sin with Esther and Royal and promises to reveal the truth to Elizabeth. Meanwhile John speaks with Elisha who congratulates and encourages him until they reach John's home.
