Content Warning: This section mentions racism, violence, bullying, depression, self-harm, attempted suicide, drug addiction and overdose, child sexual abuse and rape, incest, and death.

Betty is the protagonist and the narrator of the story. She is the third-youngest child of Landon and Alka, and she has dark skin, hair, and eyes that resemble those of her Cherokee father. She is bullied at home and at school for the color of her skin. The book recounts Betty’s coming of age, from her birth to the time she leaves home in her late teens. She transforms from a trusting child trying to make sense of her surroundings into a confident adult, unafraid of the evils of the world, so many of which she has already had to face.

Her childhood consists of harrowing stories and scenes of sexual abuse, shouldering her mother and sisters’ pain, and mourning the death of a brother and a sister. At the same time, Betty learns about the natural world from her father, plays with her sisters, and writes constantly. She feels connected to the land she lives on in southern Ohio. She begins the story wanting desperately to have pale skin and blonde hair to fit in with her white town, but she slowly accepts her own beauty with the support of her father, who reminds her of the strength of her Cherokee ancestors.