Cowney is a 19-year-old orphan who was raised by his paternal grandmother, Lishie, and his father’s brother, Bud. A member of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, he has lived exclusively on their reservation in Cherokee, North Carolina. Born with a left foot turned to the outside, Cowney is ineligible for the wartime military, in which most of the young men his age serve. Cowney yearns to escape Cherokee, where there are few opportunities available to him. His one outward venture—attending a nearby junior college— ended unsuccessfully. In support of more opportunity, his grandmother garners applications for two colleges favorable to Indigenous American students. Cowney’s summer job at the Grove Park Inn is a means to provide funds for him to attend college in the fall.

Cowney’s parents both died while he was an infant, leaving him an orphan raised by relatives. Cowney’s grandmother is his stern but compassionate force of moral goodness and Christian faith. She compels him to take her to church, teaches him how to cook, and chides him when he becomes moody and uncommunicative. Cowney loves her deeply. Cowney’s uncle serves as the constant thorn in his side, always demanding work from him while never complimenting or even thanking him for his effort.