The narrator of the book, Maya becomes tall and vibrant, with “nappy Black hair, broad feet and a space between her teeth that would hold a number-two pencil” (3). Sent at the age of three to live with her grandmother, Maya never fully overcomes her insecurities and sense of abandonment. While living in the racially segregated and conservative town of Stamps, Maya takes refuge in her love for books and her brother’s company.

The girl also develops a strong bond with her grandmother, but at the age of seven, she and her brother Bailey are sent to St. Louis to live with their mother. There, Maya is raped by her mother’s boyfriend, and the incident leaves her deeply traumatized and withdrawn. Maya suffers from the stigma of being a rape victim and shuts herself off from the world.

Back in Stamps, Maya slowly heals with the help of books and her brother’s unconditional support. When she graduates from the local grammar school, Maya is at the top of her class, and she is proud of her academic achievements. But when the siblings move to San Francisco to be with their mother and Maya enrolls in a local high school, she finds it hard to compete with other children.