Wilhelmina “Millie” Calloway is a 30-something woman who spent a decade in prison for the murder of a man who tried to sexually assault her friend. Millie works as a housemaid to pay the bills but finds it difficult to find jobs because of her record. When the novel begins, Millie is six months into a relationship with a lawyer, Brock Cunningham. She wants to love him, but she struggles to be herself around him. Millie knows that she needs to tell Brock the truth about her past, but she is afraid he’ll leave, so she continuously puts it off. At the same time, Millie often finds herself thinking of her ex-boyfriend, Enzo Accardi, suggesting that Millie’s feelings for Enzo are not resolved. For this reason, her attraction to Brock appears to be more about settling for someone who can provide a good life for her rather than love, pointing to the theme of Wealth as a Motivator.

Millie attends college courses in a desire to become a social worker. This chosen field stems from her previous work with Enzo saving abused persons from their abusers. Millie is the kind of person who wants to help people in danger despite the incident that landed her in prison.