The protagonist of the novel, Avey Johnson, is a 64-year-old widow from New York. She was raised in Harlem with three brothers and spent the Augusts of her childhood on a small island off South Carolina with her great-aunt Cuney.

After Avey marries Jerome, they move to Brooklyn, raise three girls, and work tirelessly to escape Halsey Street—a neighborhood that represented their anxiety and trepidation towards poverty. They eventually move to White Plains by drastically changing their economic status. This transition effects Avey’s character as she becomes increasingly preoccupied by material things. This is exemplified most often in the novel through clothing, which Avey takes great care with: “The well-cut suit, coat or ensemble depending on the season. The carefully coordinated accessories. The muted colors. Everything in good taste and appropriate to her age” (48).

Her attention to possessions and her appearance is corrupting, until she no longer recognizes herself: “she would record in a swift glance or two before realizing who it actually was reflected in the mirror up ahead” (49). Most of all, the corruption is denoted in Avey’s complete disinterest in her heritage and cultural inheritance.