In the beginning of the novel, Pony is introduced as a lower-class kid who lost his parents in a car accident and is now raised by his older brothers, Soda and Darry. While he gets along fine with Soda, him and Darry are constantly at odds as Darry pushes to Pony to do well in school and in life. Along with his brothers he hangs out with their gang of Greasers, who are constantly attacked and have to defend themselves against Socs. One night at the movies, Pony, Johnny (a Greaser who had been hurt badly by a group of Socs), and Two-Bit (another member of their gang) start talking to two Soc girls after they ditched their drunk boyfriends. After the movies they offer to drive the girls home when their boyfriends come back with some friends to take them home. After leaving the girls Johnny and Pony head off to a field where they end up staying until two hours past Pony's curfew. Pony heads back home where Darry screams at and hits him for staying out too late causing Pony to run away with Johnny. They decide to cool off in the park when that same group of Socs jumps them and tries to drown Pony. Trying to defend themselves, Johnny stabs and kills one of the attackers. Realizing what they had done they seek out Dally (the troublemaker of the group) who gives them the location of church to hide out in for a week until he can find them along with fifty dollars and a gun. After spending a week at the abandoned church Dally finds them and takes them to lunch, where Johnny tells them he is going to turn himself in. After that they head to the church where there is a fire. Pony and Johnny then proceed to run into the church to save a group of little kids, saving them but putting themselves in the hospital. When Pony wakes up his brothers tell him there is going to be one last rumble between the Socs and Greasers and that Johnny is in critical condition. The night of the rumble, the Greasers end up winning and afterwards Pony and Dally go to the hospital where Johnny dies before their eyes. After this Dally then runs out of the hospital and robs a store which leads to a police chase where he allows himself to be shot by police. Pony then passes out once this happens waking up three days later at his house. A few days later him and Darry have an argument which leads to Soda running out of the house, when they catch him he begs those two to stop fighting as it is killing him inside. They agree to work on it and they live happily ever after.