Maacah is a Black girl in her early teens, living in a church compound that aims to raise "children of the light". The members of the compound, like Maacah's guardian Sister Mary, flog children for sinning and being unpure. Maacah finds herself reading Harry Potter, asking too many questions, doubting the Bible—all sins which result in floggings. Maacah hears that the reason she was placed in the compound is that her mother was a whore found on the streets. The members of the compound took Maacah's mother in, but she ran away, leaving Maacah. Maacah thinks that rebelling against "the light" must be in her blood. One day, while handing out flyers and evangelizing in the town, a Black woman named Weyni who works on a farm approaches Maacah and asks if she is okay. Weyni gives Maacah her phone number on a slip of paper, which Maacah hides in her shirt. Days later, Maacah calls Weyni and sneaks out of the compound to meet her. Weyni looks at the welts on Maacah's body and suggests that Maacah might be in a dangerous cult. Offended, since the compound is all she knows, Maacah returns to her home. After another flogging, however, Maacah makes plans to leave the compound.