The villagers in some unnamed town, in some unnamed time, allgather in the village square. They are apparently going toparticipate in a lottery drawing, and the procedure is described indetail. But what the drawing is for is never mentioned, only thatit has been held regularly for many years. It is not until thecompletion of the drawing that we discover what the lottery is for.When the head of one family is revealed to have the single markedticket, a second drawing is held for the five members of hisfamily. In this drawing, the ticket "with the black dot" is drawnby a woman named Tessie, who is likely his wife, and the villagersbegin to stone her to death.The lottery is apparently a means to reduce the population,perhaps because the population would otherwise outgrow their spacefor living, or outgrow their food supply.