Content Warning: Chapter 1 contains references to a death by drug overdose.

Beyah, the narrator, begins by describing the life of deprivation, isolation, and loneliness she lived as a child. Her mother, Janean, whom she describes as being addicted to drugs, alcohol, and relationships with men, was never emotionally and seldom physically present for her daughter. Beyah learned coping and survival skills early on. She often struggles to find food. When old enough, she gets a job at McDonald’s.

During an evening rainstorm not long after her high school graduation, she comes home to the trailer park to find her mother’s body on the sofa, dead from an overdose. Her mother’s eyes are fixed on a photo of Mother Teresa, which she hung as a mockery, believing no one was really as good as Mother Teresa portrayed herself. Beyah sees an opportunity to begin her life again. She remarks, “The nicest thing my mother has ever done for me is die” (6).

Buzz, a local police officer, arrives after Beyah reports her mother’s death. He tells her that if she does not go to the funeral home, her mother will be buried without any cost to Beyah. Beyah relates that she knows nothing outside of playing volleyball and living in a trailer park in Kentucky.