The year is 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi, and Aibileen, a Black domestic worker, takes care of her 17th white baby, Mae Mobley Leefolt. Aibileen lost her own son, Treelore, right before she started working for Elizabeth Leefolt, Mae Mobley’s mother. Treelore slipped off the loading dock at the mill where he worked, and he was run over by a tractor-trailer. His white employers dumped him in front of the hospital that would treat Black people, and he died before Aibileen could get to him. He was only 24 years old with a life full of promise. He had started writing a book about being a Black man in Mississippi. Since his death, something changed inside Aibileen. She is less accepting of things now.

Aibileen gets frustrated seeing the way Elizabeth only gives Mae Mobley negative attention. However, Aibileen makes up for the lack of love between the mother and daughter by loving three-year-old Mae Mobley enough for the both of them. Today, a sweltering August day, is the fourth Wednesday of the month, which means Miss Leefolt is hosting bridge club. The ladies arrive, including Skeeter Phelan, Hilly Holbrook, and Hilly’s mother, Miss Walters. Hilly gossips about Celia Foote, a social outcast who is not a member of the Jackson League.