The narrative opens with a letter from protagonist Tracy Beaumont addressed to Stephen Jones, Esq. at the Innocence X Headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama. Tracy states that her father, an incarcerated Black man on death row, has only 275 days left before his execution. She asks that Jones please review the application that they submitted in the hopes that Innocence X takes on her father’s case and gets him exonerated before his execution date. Tracy says that Jones is their “only hope” (1). In a series of postscripts, Tracy states that her brother, Jamal, is going to college on a running scholarship and will be interviewed on The Susan Touric Show in a feature about the country’s top high school athletes.

On the day of Jamal’s interview, despite strict instructions from Mama, Tracy plans to bring up their father’s case to draw attention to it. While waiting backstage, Tracy notes that one of her classmates, Angela Herron, is there working as a production assistant. Angela is the daughter of Jamal’s boss at Herron Media, and the school newspaper editor. Angela’s boyfriend, Chris Brighton, shows up to the studio unexpectedly. Tracy is annoyed with them both, describing Chris especially as “white privilege at its finest” (9).