Phillisia Cathy has recently emigrated from the West Indies with her family. At fourteen-years-old, she faces the most difficult social transition of school-aged children -- high school -- along with the complication of adopting a new culture. She is bullied in school because the other kids are jealous of how successful she is. At home, her father, Calvin, rules his home like a tyrant. He prefers Phyllisia's older sister, Ruby, to her and only gives Ruby attention and affirmation. Although she is intelligent and curious, she is valued only for her physical beauty, which apparently does not compare to that of her mom and sister. Phyllisia's only consolation is her new friend Edith, the only one who is kind to her at school. In order to be friends with Edith, though, she has to swallow her pride which causes her to look down on Edith for being poor and unrefined.
Phyllisia constantly is trying to earn her father's approval, until one day she's beaten up in school. He does nothing when she returns home, infuriating her. She decides to defy him afterward. Skipping school, she starts spending more and more time with Edith. Eventually Calvin catches on, but his words mean almost nothing to his daughter now because she cannot trust him to have her best interests in mind. When Edith's father disappears, she has to drop out of school and take care of her many younger siblings. She and Phyllisia lose touch, but Phyllisia makes a new friend in high school named Marian. In school her social life is improving, but at home her mom is becoming increasingly ill. Calvin makes Phyllisia and Ruby return home directly after school to care for their mother.
Phyllisia catches up with Edith, eager to show her old friend how socially successful she has come. Her family has a reputation for being snobs, which manifests in Phyllisia as a desire to show off her family's wealth to her sadly impoverished friend. Inviting Edith over one day to meet her mom, Phyllisia secretly hopes to embareass and dazzle the girl. Her dad arrives home early and sends Edith away angrily, not desiring to entertain street children in his home. Afterwards, Phyllisia's mother chastises her for trying to humiliate Edith in that way. Her mom dies a few days later.
In her mother's absence, Phyllisia has awful nightmares and becomes ill, but her father forces her to get out of bed and eat. The sisters bond over their mutual oppression by Calvin. Ruby convinces Phyllisia to attend a party with her where Marian's boyfriend flirts with Phyllisia, making her uncomfortable. She seeks comfort from Edith, but chickens out before knocking.
Back at home, Calvin Cathy forbids his daughters from going anywhere but school, but Phyllisia knows his weakness. She tells all of his friends that he's going crazy, and they intercede on her behalf. Calvin backs off some, until he catches Phyllisia skipping school to spend time with a boyfriend. He threatens to send both daughters back to the West Indies, so Phyllisia goes to bid farewell to Edith. She learns that two of Edith's sisters have been taken by CPS and her father and all the other siblings have died. Horrified, Phyllisia begs forgiveness for not having been a reliable friend through all of this. She returns home and tells her father about what's happened. By the end of the conversation father and daughter have arrived at a new respect for one another, and Calvin agrees to allow the girls to remain with him.
