As the novel begins, Cassie Logan is a 10-year-old Black girl living with her family in rural Mississippi in 1935. Because of her age and race, Cassie’s viewpoint is central to the reader’s understanding of coming of age during a historical period when Black people in the South had only recently emerged from enslavement and were accorded few rights. Cassie struggles to understand how Black people are supposed to behave toward white people. During her short life, she is confronted with the violent effects of racism and learns to avoid the white world whenever possible.

Cassie is fortunate because her family owns a large farm and a fine house. They are financially independent of the white planter families, who still treat their sharecroppers as their dependents. The Logan family is tight-knit, and Cassie’s greatest devotion is directed toward her parents and siblings. Even though Stacey’s absence threatens her sense of stability, she is reunited with her brother by the novel’s end.

Cassie’s mother is well-educated and was formerly a schoolteacher. After losing her job because of her political activism, Mary Logan continues to tutor local school children. She sees the value of education as a way forward from the poverty and ignorance experienced by many rural, Southern Black families.