Each of the four main parts of There There is broken up further into sections dedicated to a single character’s point of view.

The first section focuses on Tony Loneman, a 21-year-old man who was born with “fetal alcohol syndrome,” or the “Drome,” as he calls it (15). As a result of “the Drome,” Tony has distinctive facial features, and “people look at [him] then look away” (16). Tony narrates his experience as a young person who “basically failed the intelligence test” and developed his own sense of intelligence: knowing “what people have in mind” (16, 17). His grandmother, Maxine, who raised him, tells Tony that he is a “medicine person” who looks different because he is different on the inside. Tony lives with Maxine and greatly respects her. Tony’s mother is incarcerated, and all Tony knows about his father is that he is in New Mexico. Tony describes some of his core traits and values. He often gets angry, and when he does, he blacks out. He has been selling marijuana since the age of 13, and he spends the rest of his time with Maxine. Tony talks about “all the shit [he] got in,” which started after he began procuring drugs for “some white boys up in the Oakland hills” (21).