Tony Jones, also known as Antonio Jones II, is the son of a former Union officer whose mother was an escaped slave. His son, Tony, Jr, was raised on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, by his father and his white mother, a schoolteacher on the island.

Tony was a bright and eager student who became one of the few blacks to be admitted to Harvard during the Jim Crow era. After three years at Harvard, he decided that he wanted to be an artist, dropped out, and went to Paris to study art. After three years in Paris with little success, he returned to St. Helena Island shortly after a hurricane devasted the area, killing his father. Having settled his father's affairs and ensuring that his mother was secure, he returns to Paris along with his new bride, Jacqueline LaRue, the daughter of a local plantation owner.

This is where Return of the Native Son ends and When the Old World Was New begins.