“Hot Air Balloons” is narrated by a college freshman living in Miami named Lucy whose roommate, Neah, decides to drop out of school after taking a trip to Haiti during Thanksgiving break. Rather than return to school, Neah has decided to work for Leve, the women’s organization that organized the trip. Neah’s father, a professor at their university, blames Lucy for Neah’s decision to go to Haiti, and therefore drop out, and asks her to convince Neah to return to school.

Lucy recalls that Neah learned about the trip after Lucy tore down an advertisement for it. Lucy had been troubled by the images of undernourished and abused Haitian women, some of whom looked like her mother; she worried that her fellow students might begin to associate her with that violence. She shared her worries and frustrations with Neah, who decided that she wanted to participate in the trip. Lucy could not afford to go on the trip, and, more importantly, did not want to visit Haiti without her parents, who were farm workers. Lucy reflects on the difference between her upbringing and that of Neah, whose parents were both professors.

Lucy goes to visit Neah at the Leve offices.