In fall of 1982, a blue-eyed girl named Rachel leaves a hospital in Portland, Oregon, with her grandmother and boards a bus to go to her new home. Grandma is “the first colored woman” (5) to own a home on her street in Portland. From now on, 11-year-old Rachel will live with her grandmother in the same house where Rachel’s father, Roger, grew up. After Grandma and Rachel’s Aunt Loretta try to comb Rachel’s hair, Rachel goes to bed and thinks about starting at a new school the following morning. She wishes she could go home to Chicago or to the house on the military base in Germany where she once lived with her family.

The following morning, Rachel eats breakfast while Grandma talks to Aunt Loretta about getting a husband. At school, Rachel notices that her teacher, Mrs. Anderson, is her “first black woman teacher” (9) and that most of her classmates are black. Rachel is unsure of where she fits in.

As Rachel adapts to her new school, she notices that she is smarter than the other kids at her school. A Black girl named Tamika bullies Rachel for being too pretty, and Rachel thinks about what it means to have light skin and blue eyes.