Content Warning: This section of the guide contains depictions of racism and substance use disorder and mentions teen pregnancy and abortion.

Ray Gilbert runs a coffee shop, Superfine, with his business partner, Linette, in the Piedmont in North Carolina. Today a reporter is coming by Superfine to take pictures for a story about the recent influx of new businesses on Beard Street. Ray comes in early to make a new donut recipe he designed just for this day. With him is his girlfriend Jade’s six-year-old son, Gee. Ray and Jade met when Gee was still an infant. Ray has been the only father Gee knows. Linette arrives and questions Ray about Jade’s role in Gee’s life, clearly disapproving.

Superfine opens to steady business. Jade arrives, hungover and angry. Jade became pregnant while still in high school, and she harbors resentments about the life she lost. For this reason, despite being in nursing school, she often goes out drinking. Ray supports her, aware of how her troubled childhood has scarred her. He calms her, allows her to take Gee to school, and asks her to call later to let him know how she did on an upcoming test.