Brown Girl in the Ring is set in a future Toronto during an economic collapse, leading investors, businesses, and the government to move to the suburb cities. The poor are left behind in the core hub of Toronto, described as a “cartwheel half-mired in muddy water” (3). With the government exiting the city center, the people left behind engage in the large-scale Riots. The surrounding suburban cities create walls to protect themselves from the rioting people in the city center. The only available way out of the city center is through water or by plane.

In the opening of the novel, Douglas Baines, a Vulture from the Angel of Mercy transplant hospital, visits the Toronto city center to acquire a human heart for the politician, Premier Uttley. He seeks the help of Rudy and his posse who reign over the city center with their main office in the CN Tower. Rudy agrees to help for a substantial fee. He promises to locate a young person’s heart, soliciting the services of a former medical practitioner by the name of Tony to perform this service.