Selina Boyce is the first-generation American daughter of Deighton and Silla Boyce. The novel tracks Selina’s development from age 10 to 18. Over the course of the novel, Selina goes from being a girl who struggles to live up to her mother’s and her community’s expectations to a young woman who honors her desire for individuality and connection to her community.

At the start of the novel, Selina is a defiant 10-year-old whose untidy appearance, fights with her sister, and closeness with her impractical father causes her mother to despair. Selina does not understand her sister’s adolescence or adult’s actions around her, so she is mostly confused by her reality. Selina longs for security but also desires freedom. Her walks in public parks, conversations with her best friend, and writing poetry are her only outlets of freedom.

Selina’s character goes through substantial shifts once she enters adolescence and witnesses the dissolution of her parents’ marriage. Angered by the community’s rejection and her mother’s treatment of her father, Selina rebels. This rebellion is most apparent in her decision to confront her mother about her plan to sell her father’s land, and again when she beats her mother after her father is deported and dies on the trip to Barbados.