Lynnea, a young black woman, moves to Baltimore from Kentucky. She went home after college but became frustrated working in the Quickie Mart and with the fact that there were very few African Americans there. Lynnea chose Baltimore on impulse. Three months later, Lynnea is tired of struggling and joins a certification program to become a teacher. In class, the instructor tells the teaching students to disappear, much to the confusion of Lynnea and one of her classmates, Robert, who is a police officer. Jake Bonza, a veteran teacher who is aiding the instructor, explains that they will have to become the students for each other so they can practice teaching, which means misbehaving and being “the kind of fucked-up students you know y’all were or wanted to be” (58). As they each take their turns, Lynnea is horrified at the behavior of her classmates, certain that her students will be different.

At the end of the certification program, Lynnea takes a job teaching English and finds it impossible to control her classroom. No matter how much she yells or disciplines them, her students mock her and refuse to listen. On Fridays, Lynnea goes to a bar with her teaching school classmates.