Rowan, a biracial black 17-year-old, lives in present-day Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is walking to an appointment with the District Attorney because her car is totaled. Rowan remembers a day at the beginning of the summer when she is awakened by a construction crew. Rowan’s mother, who is black, has decided to renovate the old servants’ quarters behind the house, although it makes Rowan’s white father uneasy that the building once housed black servants. Construction suddenly stops, and she hears the workers say in Spanish, “Old bones. Police. Murder” (13).

The narrative shifts to Tulsa in 1921. William, a white 17-year-old, describes, “I wasn’t good when the trouble started. Wasn’t particularly bad either, but I had potential” (13). Will and his friend Cletus “Clete” Hayes are both from wealthy families and enjoy causing trouble. One night, Will and Clete are drinking at a speakeasy, a sleazy dive bar that sells illegal alcohol called the Two-Knock, and Will is shocked when Addison “Addie” Dobbs, the girl he loves, walks in. Clete urges Will to buy her a drink, but then an African American man walks in to meet Addie. As the man acts familiar with and touches Addie, Will becomes silently enraged, even wishing that the man would be lynched for touching a white woman.