Content Warning: This novel contains discussions of racism and enslavement, graphic descriptions of torture, and allusions to sexual assault.

Ray McMillian wakes up in his New York hotel room with his girlfriend, Nicole. After he has a shower, he finds that the maid has left breakfast for them. Nicole admits that she took money from Ray’s wallet to tip the maid. In retrospect, Ray examines all the small details of the morning and wonders what different choices he could have made. After breakfast, he and Nicole leave the hotel. Nicole offers Ray some advice on his violin playing and then gets into a taxi. Ray thinks about his upcoming challenge: the Tchaikovsky Competition for classical musicians. He takes a flight home, always keeping his violin close by. When he arrives home, he opens his violin case to discover a white running shoe and a ransom note for $5 million.

Ray phones the police but has trouble facing the loss of his instrument. He returns to his hotel in New York while the police investigate the room he had occupied. As the police question him, Ray sinks into self-pity and believes that he wasn’t worthy of his violin; he worries that he is proving the racial prejudices that everyone had against him.