Hollow Fires is told as a frame story, where the present day takes place in May 2023 when protagonist Safiya Mirza is a sophomore studying journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago. The past takes place January 2022 when Safiya was a senior in high school at DuSable Prep in Chicago. 

Safiya Mirza is an American whose family is from India. Her parents own and operate Mirza Emporium, a store that sells a variety of spices, teas, and other items. In January 2022, she is the editor-in-chief of the DuSable Spectator and preparing to study journalism at Northwestern. Safiya writes a regular column for the paper titled “Be the Change” where she challenges her wealthy, privileged classmates to fight for social justice. Safiya cares deeply about the injustice she sees in her community: anti-Muslim rhetoric, white supremacy in the American government, missing children whose cases go unsolved because they come from marginalized communities. 

Safiya embodies the narrative’s central message: Young people can use their voices to fight and win against oppressive systems. She never wavers in her commitment to this theme over the course of the story, and finds herself fundamentally in conflict with those in the world around her who don’t yet understand this truth.